SLIM lands on the Moon
According to telemetry data (as shown on the screen capture to the right), Japan’s SLIM lander has apparently landed on the Moon near Shioli Crater, proving its autonomous precision landing system worked as planned.
At the moment however Japan’s space agency JAXA has not yet confirmed that the landing was completely successful. After landing the announcers on the live stream repeatedly noted that though the telemetry indicated it had landed as planned, engineers had not yet confirmed that the lander was still operational. Note how the data to the right suggests the spacecraft is tilted slightly. This tilt appears to match the tilt of the surface, but it could also indicate a problem with communications.
A press conference announcing either a confirmation or a failure will begin shortly at the live stream above.
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According to telemetry data (as shown on the screen capture to the right), Japan’s SLIM lander has apparently landed on the Moon near Shioli Crater, proving its autonomous precision landing system worked as planned.
At the moment however Japan’s space agency JAXA has not yet confirmed that the landing was completely successful. After landing the announcers on the live stream repeatedly noted that though the telemetry indicated it had landed as planned, engineers had not yet confirmed that the lander was still operational. Note how the data to the right suggests the spacecraft is tilted slightly. This tilt appears to match the tilt of the surface, but it could also indicate a problem with communications.
A press conference announcing either a confirmation or a failure will begin shortly at the live stream above.
The support of my readers through the years has given me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Four years ago, just before the 2020 election I wrote that Joe Biden's mental health was suspect. Only in this year has the propaganda mainstream media decided to recognize that basic fact.
Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Even today NASA and Congress refuse to recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are five ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation:
5. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above. And if you buy the books through the ebookit links, I get a larger cut and I get it sooner.
The figure on the graph looks like the spacecraft is upside-down, with the engines pointed skyward. This could explain the inability to confirm the landing and the apparent loss of signal from the lander. It was right side up as it landed, but then it turned over just after landing.
Watched a few minutes of the press conference. Apparently some trouble with the solar cells generating power. Possibly the panel is not aligned properly with the sun. The battery seems to have enough energy stored to operate for a while. I am curious why they do not use radioisotope decay thermal electric power generators? Based on no real knowledge, I would bet that anti-nuclear radiation phobia entered the decision
Paul Revere: No, I don’t think politics were a factor. Weight and cost were more likely the reasons. Moreover, the solar cells were also an engineering test, and it appears the failure is related the cells either not exposed to the Sun (failure to deploy) or an inability to transmit its power to the spacecraft.
Paul Revere,
As I recall, the general rule of thumb has been to use solar power out to Mars (and maybe the asteroids) and radioisotopes farther out. The Juno and Lucy probes at Jupiter and Jupiter’s Trojan asteroids, respectively, use solar panels, so either the practice has changed or I have misremembered.
Solar generates plenty of power at the Earth and Moon distance from the Sun.
Looking up the Galileo Probe to Jupiter, it seems there was a change:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galileo_(spacecraft)#Electrical_power
Emphasis on “At the time.”