Once again, the lunar night has arrived, posing a new challenge for the two recently landed spacecraft on the moon’s surface. Both Japan’s SLIM and Intuitive Machines’ Odysseus have entered a dormant state for the two-week-long period of darkness. The teams have confirmed this at the end of the week, with hopes of reestablishing contact when the lunar day returns.
Despite not being designed to endure the freezing lunar night, SLIM, which has been on the moon since January 19, has defied the odds and successfully made it through last month. This will be Odysseus’ first lunar night experience, having landed on February 22.
On March 1 at 3am JST, the sun set on the Shioli Crater and #SLIM re-entered a period of dormancy. Although the probability of a failure increases with the repeated severe temperature cycles, SLIM operation will attempt to resume when the sun rises (late March)….
2024-03-02 13:24:51
Post from www.engadget.com