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 the Moon. ISRO provided the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) with high-resolution imagery using the Chandrayaan-2 orbiter which helped in selecting landing site for the Smart Lander For Investigating Moon (SLIM) mission.

In a post on X on January 30, JAXA also shouted out to NASA for helping with the Moon landing through the 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 the lunar surface from Chandrayaan-2, which was immensely helpful in selecting the final landing site for SLIM."

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

— 小型月着陸実証機SLIM (@SLIM_JAXA) January 30, 2024

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

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

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

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

SLIM is currently carrying out experiments on the 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 they were facing away from the sunlight. There has now been a change in the solar angle at the landing site and the operations are normal.

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