Japan’s SLIM Lunar Lander Does a Nose Dive

There was good news and bad news from Japan’s SLIM lander on the Moon. SLIM did succeed in making a “soft landing”—a victory in itself—but unfortunately it landed on its nose. And how did JAXA know this? The two rovers, LEV-1 and LEV-2, which apparently separated shortly before landing, fortunately were intact. LEV-2 took the pictures of the lander and relayed them to LEV-1 which transmitted them to Earth. With the rovers able to communicate, JAXA also hopes to revive SLIM, which is still functional, by trying to recharge its batteries when it next comes into the sunlight.