SLIM, Small Japanese lunar lander Options

[Thorsten Denk]

It seems that SLIM is emitting radio again...
https://twitter.com/amsatdl/status/1751701647640732152

Thorsten

[Phil Stooke]

https://twitter.com/coastal8049/status/1751723650372538717

Scott Tilley agrees with this. I really hope the MBC can be operated in the c. 3 days we have left before sunset.

Phil

[HSchirmer]

I did some digging and it may be the same engine (or at least a 2nd/3rd generation of the Akatsuki main engine)... Akatsuki failed due to a stuck fuel side pressurization check valve.

I've seen some speculation that the press release's mention of a pressure-fed-blow-down 2 engine system could be important. As the fuel / oxidizer tanks drain low, if one engine started to run fuel rich and the other runs oxygen-rich, the hotter oxygen rich side might have burned through / thermal shocked the ceramic nozzle.

[Hungry4info]

JAXA confirms resumption of the mission and science activities.
https://twitter.com/SLIM_JAXA/status/1751742976253190226

Google Translate:

We succeeded in establishing communication with SLIM last night and have resumed operations! We immediately started scientific observations with MBC, and have successfully obtained first light for 10-band observation. The figure below shows a toy poodle observed using the first light multi-band observation.

(toy poodle? either a translation error or I don't know what a toy poodle looks like, which is quite possible)

Edit: Oooh!

Toy Poodle is the name given to the rock observed near SLIM

[tolis]

JAXA confirms resumption of the mission and science activities.
https://twitter.com/SLIM_JAXA/status/1751742976253190226

Google Translate:

(toy poodle? either a translation error or I don't know what a toy poodle looks like, which is quite possible)

I think "Toy Poodle" refers to one of the rocks in the immediate vicinity of SLIM.

[Phil Stooke]

Yes, it does - look at post 77 in this thread.

Phil

[Phil Stooke]

Now. a report of a possible detection of Lev-1 transmission.

https://twitter.com/PI9CAM/status/1751657240728117705

Phil

[Phil Stooke]

updates copied from @SLIM_JAXA tweets in the last few minutes:

------------------------
Small lunar landing demonstration vehicle SLIM
@SLIM_JAXA
·
17m
From 9:00 pm last night to 9:00 am today, we operated SLIM using deep space antennas at 34 m at Uchinoura and 64 m at Usuda. 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.
Small lunar landing demonstration vehicle SLIM
@SLIM_JAXA
·
17m
In this operation, we were able to perform multi-band observations of Akita Inu, Kai Inu, Saint Bernard, Shiba Inu, Beagle, and Tosa Inu using the spectroscopic camera! Beagle and Tosa Inu are new observation subjects that have been added to the observation list after restoration.
Small lunar landing demonstration vehicle SLIM
@SLIM_JAXA
·
17m
The next observation will be from 22:00 today (1/30) to 9:00 tomorrow (1/31). Please note that SLIM will be dormant for a while after February 1st.
-----------------------------


I assume the 'dormant' comment refers to the lo---ooooo---ooong lunar night.

Phil

[Phil Stooke]

https://twitter.com/SLIM_JAXA/status/1752520549962822122

This tweet translates via Google as:

From 10pm last night (1/30) to 9am today (1/31), we conducted multiband observations using a spectroscopic camera. Last night, new Labradors, Dalmatians, Papillons, and more were added to the group as a result of detailed analysis of the images and additional imaging results, and we are also conducting second observations of some of the objects.

More dogs! I hope they stay in the off-leash park. I was working on an illustration but may need to rethink it if it gets too crowded for the scale I was using.

Phil

[Hungry4info]

Before/after our battery-imposed "nap" showing the lunar landscape just after landing versus after regaining contact.
Edit: No the daylight image is edited a bit. See below.
https://www.isas.jaxa.jp/home/slim/SLIM/ope...atus/index.html

Attached thumbnail(s)

 

[Phil Stooke]

Beautiful! These seem to be uncompressed Navigation Camera images.

Phil

[fredk]

When you extract the two frames from the gif on the page Hungry linked to, the morning (?), better-lit frame shows clear 8x8 compression blocks - maybe DCT blocks? But the later frame (dark foreground) shows no sign of compression.

(Hungry seems to have partially merged the frames while extracting?)

[Phil Stooke]

The GIF does use a compressed version of the morning frame, but the single image does not appear compressed.

Phil

[Hungry4info]

Forgive me I just grabbed the images from Seger Yu here (where I learned of the JAXA gif release). I see now the "daylight" image I posted was a modified image. Apologies about that.

[Hungry4info]

Another update from JAXA, with some images we haven't seen.
https://www.isas.jaxa.jp/topics/003674.html