NASA orbiter spies Japan's struggling SLIM moon lander on lunar surface (photo)

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NASA's images show SLIM's landing site both before and after the probe's touchdown.

a small white dot on the surface of the moon
(Image credit: NASA/Goddard/Arizona State University)

A NASA orbiter caught sight of Japan's SLIM moon lander on the lunar surface after its historic touchdown.

SLIM, or the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon, is operated by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). It touched down on the moon in a precision landing on Jan. 19, making Japan the fifth country to make a soft landing on the lunar surface behind India, China, the United States and Russia (then the Soviet Union). 

From its orbit 50 miles (80 km) above the moon's surface, NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) was able to see SLIM resting at its landing site. "Bright streaks on the left side of the image are rocky material ejected from the nearby, relatively young Shioli crater," NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, which manages LRO, wrote in a statement.

Related: Japan's SLIM moon lander photographed on the lunar surface — on its nose (image)

NASA's images show SLIM's landing site both before and after the probe's touchdown. One of the images, seen below, is a composite that removes features that are the same in both the before-landing and after-landing images. In turn, it allows us to see changes in reflectance on the lunar surface, caused by the lander's engine exhaust, to stand out.

A composite image dividing the before image from after. Features that are the same in both images disappear, highlighting the changes in surface brightness from the rocket plume. The image is 2,887 feet wide (880 meters), and lunar north is up. (Image credit: NASA/Goddard/Arizona State University)

SLIM accomplished its main goal of landing at a chosen site with near-pinpoint accuracy, touching down within 328 feet (100 meters) of its target despite ending up upside down due to an engine failure during descent.

This image pair shows LRO views of the area surrounding the SLIM site before (frame M1254087075L) and after (frame M1460739214L) its landing. Note the slight change in reflectance around the lander due to engine exhaust sweeping the surface. These images are enlarged by a factor of two, and are about 1,444 feet (440 meters) wide. (Image credit: NASA/Goddard/Arizona State University)

Because of its orientation, SLIM is unable to use its solar panels to generate electricity, meaning the probe is relying fully on its battery. On Monday (Jan. 21), the lander's battery dipped to 12% capacity, triggering a power down "to avoid being unable to restart for a recovery operation due to over-discharge," SLIM team members stated on X.

Japan's SLIM moon lander, photographed on the lunar surface in January 2024 by LEV-2, a tiny rover that traveled to the moon with SLIM. (Image credit: JAXA)
RELATED STORIES:

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— Not dead yet: Japan prepares for possible recovery of SLIM moon lander

Nevertheless, JAXA scientists are hopeful that, if sunlight shines on the lander from the lunar west, SLIM's solar panels might be able to absorb enough sunshine to generate power and recover.

It's not all bad news, though. In addition to sticking its landing, SLIM was able to deploy two mini-rovers it carried to the moon, called EV-1 ("Lunar Excursion Vehicle" 1) and LEV-2. Both are operating as planned, and the ball-like LEV-2 was even able to snap a picture of its upside-down host.

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Brett Tingley
Brett Tingley
Managing Editor, Space.com

Brett is curious about emerging aerospace technologies, alternative launch concepts, military space developments and uncrewed aircraft systems. Brett's work has appeared on Scientific American, The War Zone, Popular Science, the History Channel, Science Discovery and more. Brett has English degrees from Clemson University and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. In his free time, Brett enjoys skywatching throughout the dark skies of the Appalachian mountains.

5 Comments Comment from the forums
  • oldfart
    Can't believe they designed a probe that doesn't self right, and the rover doesn't have the energy to push it upright. Massive design fail
    Reply
  • Rob77
    oldfart said:
    Can't believe they designed a probe that doesn't self right, and the rover doesn't have the energy to push it upright. Massive design fail
    Not so easy to design and test a probe in vacuum of space where we cant realistically test designs here on on Earth with gravity. Personally id like to see a probe able to be flown manually like a drone - there's about 3 seconds of latency I believe from here to the moon. If a probe is not orientating correctly or trajectory isn't quite right you would think it could be flown manually for a period. So many probes crashing into moon shows even computer driven trajectories are somewhat unreliable.
    Reply
  • billslugg
    The probe landed on its back because of a thruster failure. Making any probe self righting would be cost prohibitive. What we need is thrusters that don't die at the wrong moment.
    Reply
  • yaduff
    oldfart said:
    Can't believe they designed a probe that doesn't self right, and the rover doesn't have the energy to push it upright. Massive design fail
    Agreed!
    Reply
  • yaduff
    But you might want to fix your name..........;)
    Reply