Japan’s ‘Moon Sniper’ miraculously wakes up on lunar surface

Japan’s ‘Moon Sniper’ miraculously wakes up on lunar surface

CNN  —  Japan’s “Moon Sniper” is the lunar mission that keeps coming back to life. After being dormant for most of February, the spacecraft miraculously woke up over the weekend and transmitted new images to Earth, according to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. This feat was unexpected given that the lunar lander wasn’t designed to …

The post Japan’s ‘Moon Sniper’ miraculously wakes up on lunar surface appeared first on Egypt Independent.CNN  —  Japan’s “Moon Sniper” is the lunar mission that keeps coming back to life. After being dormant for most of February, the spacecraft miraculously woke up over the weekend and transmitted new images to Earth, according to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. This feat was unexpected given that the lunar lander wasn’t designed to survive the moon’s harsh temperatures.

Known as SLIM, or the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon, the robotic vehicle’s touchdown on January 19 made Japan the third country this century — and the fifth ever — to land on the moon.

During descent, however, the spacecraft experienced an anomaly and landed on its nose, which meant its solar panels were facing west rather than upright and not receiving necessary sunlight to generate power.

After just a couple of hours