Japan Thanks ISRO for Helping Its Lander on the Moon Using Chandrayaan-2 Orbiter

Japan has expressed its gratitude to ISRO for helping its lander touch down on Moon. ISRO provided Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) with high-resolution imagery using Chandrayaan-2 orbiter which helped in selecting landing site for Smart Lander For Investigating Moon (SLIM) mission.

In a post on X on January 30, JAXA also shouted out to NASA for helping with Moon landing through Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) which also provided a large amount of visual data.

JAXA said that ISRO "provided us with high-resolution observation data of lunar surface from Chandrayaan-2, which was immensely helpful in selecting final landing site for SLIM."

India (@isro 🇮🇳) also provided us with high-resolution observation data of lunar surface from Chandrayaan-2, which was immensely helpful in selecting final landing site for #SLIM .

— 小型月着陸実証機SLIM (@SLIM_JAXA)

" pinpoint landing of SLIM would not have been possible without international cooperation from se spacecraft. JAXA will continue to develop technology and gar data to support international community for all of our exploration in future," agency furr said.

SLIM me Japan fifth country to make a soft landing on Moon after it touched down at rim of Shioli crater on January 19. It was launched in September 2023 with intention of making a precision landing within a 100-meter target area, and this objective was achieved, JAXA said.

As for Chandrayaan-2 orbiter, it is still orbiting Moon after its launch with Pragyan rover and Vikram lander on July 22, 2019. orbiter was also used for Vikram's landing near South Pole during Chandrayaan-3 in August last year.

In a press release, JAXA released a picture from orbiter featuring lunar topography which helped SLIM team locate lander and how far it was from target site. imagery from Chandrayaan-2 orbiter above shows that SLIM actually landed approximately 55 meters away from target landing site. Apart from data from Chandrayaan-2 and LRO, SLIM was also following a map me using images from Japan's Kaguya (2007-2009) orbiter to navigate to its target landing point. 

SLIM is currently carrying out experiments on lunar surface as it has been revived after an electricity blackout. Soon after its landing on January 19, SLIM's solar cells were unable to generate electricity since y were facing away from sunlight. re has now been a change in solar angle at landing site and operations are normal.

"So far, power generation from solar cells is normal, and SLIM is operating without any problems with power from solar cells," JAXA said. It also said that lander will become dormant "for a while" after February 1 as lunar night will begin. It will be interesting to see if SLIM will make it through bitter cold after enduring temperature as low as -130°C.