It was not officially supposed to survive one of these disasters, but the Japanese lunar lander Slim was able to establish contact with the Earth control center even after three lunar nights. Now it seemed that he had surrendered, but the Japanese would not let go of his hand so easily.

On July 20, 1969, two members of the American Apollo program, Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin, were the first to walk on the moon. Half a century later, the race to conquer the moon was renewed, but the risks were higher this time. In our series of articles, we review the 50-year history of lunar exploration and outline possible scenarios for colonizing the celestial body.

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In mid-January, Japan landed on the moon with its lunar probe called Slim — although the device landed on top of his head. However, the JAXA crew was able to conduct some scientific tests with it, as its systems were working properly and the probe was also transmitting images.

The device was not designed to withstand the harsh, cold and dark lunar nights. Despite this, he survived three planes and was able to contact ground control afterwards.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency tried to contact the probe after the fourth lunar night, on May 24 and 25, but Slim did not respond to the signal they sent. They last tried on the 27th, but to no avail.

The series of attempts in May ended with the latter Japan Times However, JAXA has not left the rover's hands forever: once sunlight returns to the rover's landing site, they will attempt to contact Slim again.

This was the last image sent by the probe in April:

During lunar nights, the temperature can reach -170°C, while during the day the temperature can rise to +100°C, so the probe faces particularly harsh conditions on the Moon – not to mention radiation.

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