Goodnight, SLIM Japan's brave little moon lander has been silent since the end of April, and communication attempts have officially stopped. But, as a landing tech demo, it was only designed to last a few hours and it landed in January sooooo....
SLIM (Smart Lander for Investigating Moon) should now mean "Small Indestructible Moon Lander".
Also "10 waves" really means "10 wavelength bands".
Apparently, no one expected me to return from South Africa, and so didn't ask me to check the English press release
@elizabethtasker
so not literal waves
SLIM was an amazing achievement!
@elizabethtasker This release says the position error is 10 meters but previously JAXA said 55 meters (and that it could’ve been 10 sans the engine anomaly). Which one is the correct number?
@moonmehta The accuracy of the pinpoint landing technique is measured before the final descent, after which the spacecraft searches for dangerous boulders and prioritises safety over accuracy. That value is less than 10m. The final landing (which included boulder avoidance and the loss of one of the two main engines) was 55m away from the landing site.
@elizabethtasker Got it, thanks!
@elizabethtasker I think it’s the word position that could confuse others too.
@moonmehta it is the error in position, not in velocity or another property. The release could have spelled out again when this was measured, but press announcements are very short and focus on the main news, in this case, end of operations.