10 ms·
Japan's first-ever soft lunar landing with SLIM spacecraft [video]
- letmevoteplease 3y agoThe official JAXA streams are here: Japanese: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Udh6kvjZYC8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Udh6kvjZYC8 English: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvXLt3ET9mE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvXLt3ET9mE Edit: It was supposed to touch down at this point, but they are pausing for 30 minutes to check the status of the craft. Doesn't look hopeful to me. Edit 2: They now say it may take up to 2 hours to confirm the situation. Edit 3: The craft landed successfully and is communicating properly, but the solar cell is not generating electricity, so it is being operated on low battery power. Lunar Excursion Vehicle 1 and 2 have been successfully separated.
- burrish 3y ago250k viewers in the Japanese stream wow
- rtkwe 3y agoLooks like it might have rolled on landing if their telemetry representation is accurate. There were some pretty significant rotation rate readings right after the throttles shut down.
- greggsy 3y agoIt is designed to approach vertically, the drop forward on four feet
- londons_explore 3y agoand it actually dropped sideways instead of forward
- bradyd 3y agoFrom @roelschroeven's post [1], rolling during landing was part of the design. It's possible it didn't roll as expected, though, blocking the solar panels. However the fact they were able to separate the rovers makes it seem like it could be a technical issue with the panels instead. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39057224 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39057224
- rtkwe 3y agoSaw that after I posted. It's an interesting design I hadn't seen before. Hopefully it worked out.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- JKCalhoun 3y agoPress conference has begun.
- greggsy 3y agoIt really is refreshing to see the restrained satisfaction after a successful operation, compared to the jeering and cheers we’ve come to expect from the team during every SpaceX mission.
- scohesc 3y agoThe telemetry screen showed that the craft might have flipped over, doesn't look good for a landing unfortunately... You got this next time, Japan! :)
- burkaman 3y agoIt also looked like it went below 0 altitude? I had it muted so not sure if that was expected or not, but seemed like it might have touched down too fast.
- genpfault 3y ago> It also looked like it went below 0 altitude? "Lithobraking"[1] [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithobraking https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithobraking
- T-A 3y agoThat would be consistent with it rolling down the slope.
- burkaman 3y agoThat makes sense. I was thinking that its altitude sensor might have been miscalibrated or confused, so it hadn't yet reached the ground when it thought it had.
- bArray 3y agoSeems the last telemetry was flipped. My bet is that the last final burn before contact with the surface caused it to flip. It also looked like it carried too much velocity as the very end, again I think that's because it was doing the last hard burn in a direction not toward the surface. Given how many failures there have been in the final process of contacting with the moon, I would be tempted to just embrace the velocity. One idea would be to use an anchor shot into the lunar surface.
- tjpnz 3y agoAssuming it did flip over would Japan still be on the list of countries to have successfully landed? There's a big difference between what we presumably witnessed and an out of control craft smashing into the surface.
- codeulike 3y agoAmbiguous landing The tiny LEV2 spherical rover looks cool, hope it made it https://global.jaxa.jp/activity/pr/jaxas/no088/03.html https://global.jaxa.jp/activity/pr/jaxas/no088/03.html
- rwmj 3y agoI hope Tomy company is the very same that did all the toys and robots in the 1980s: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomy
- ginko 3y agoIt is. They mentioned in the live stream.
- samstave 3y agoI wish we could "cluster bomb" celestial bodies with such spheres where they have a sensor core and just roam about. Imagine deploying a body of bots via a star-link-type-launcher that just spits out a bunch of these guys as it orbits the moon - then they land and roll araound and comm back to the deployment sat and talk to eachother as the Roomba the F out of the moon and give all sensor data back to the sat launcher as it orbits...
- Teever 3y agoI had similar thoughts when I saw the flea robot from Boston Dynamics.[0] Imagine exploring mars with a combination of a dozen or so flea type robots that have solar panels on them and a robot arm for sample retrieval that can fold up into the body. They can trundle around the surface taking video and picking up samples as desired and then return to the stationary lander that they came from when needed. The stationary lander can have all of the sample analysis machinery, seismograph, weather station, as well as a high bandwidth uplink to satellites in orbit / Earth. Keep landing more and more of these within the the same area so that the fleas can travel between the stationary landers as they travel further and further, heck you can even form a mesh network between all of the machines on the ground, and offload a lot of heavy computational processing to the stationary landers that could be powered by an RTG. You can risk individual fleas doing dangerous things that you otherwise wouldn't want to risk one large all in one lander on, as losing a flea only degrades a small fraction of your research and if fleas get stuck somewhere another flea can attempt to rescue it. You could even have the fleas return home to overwinter if they're not designed to withstand the winter. There's so much versatility that you gain in a model like this with small disposable rover robots paired with massive stationary landers. [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6b4ZZQkcNEo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6b4ZZQkcNEo
- aaron695 3y agoThere is livestream of the signal being picked up at Bochum. They say it landed safely (See comments on the right) "Live spectrum view and waterfall from the X-Band or S-Band receiver at the 20m radio telescope at Bochum Observatory / Germany" -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pPBCIpVGsM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pPBCIpVGsM Space really has a PR issue, waiting around for a press conference and they really need live video from the moon, it's hard but important.
- edgyquant 3y agoThe moon is far enough away that there will be a 1 second time delay regardless
- GartzenDeHaes 3y agoLive TV from Apollo 11 had a huge cultural impact. People who were born before the Wright Brothers flier watched the moon landing on live TV. They had an incredible sense of Progress that we seem to have mostly lost.
- xeromal 3y agoTo this day, it's the most watched program in terms of raw numbers, not even percentage!
- londons_explore 3y agoSomeone born in 1900 went from horse and cart to landing on the moon in their lifespan. Someone born in 1960 will go from telephones and libraries to apps and VR headsets... I know which transformation I think is more impressive.
- wolverine876 3y agoIt is a private company, not the country of Japan, if I understand correctly. EDIT: Other sources say it's JAXA. I'll withdraw the comment, sorry, but I wonder if there's a bit more to it.
- SECProto 3y ago> It is a private company, not the country of Japan, if I understand correctly. What makes you say that? It looks like a JAXA programme to me: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smart_Lander_for_Investigating_Moon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smart_Lander_for_Investigating...
- wolverine876 3y agoHmmm ... the CBS Evening News channel on YouTube said it was a private company, another subthread here refers to one. I wonder what he arrangement is. JAXA subcontracted it?
- RationPhantoms 3y agoMaybe they're confusing that with the last Japanese-originated lunar landing (That was a private company, ispace, that attempted and was unsuccessful)
- seaal 3y ago>JAXA is the Japanese national air and space agency. Through the merger of three previously independent organizations, JAXA was formed on 1 October 2003.
- burkaman 3y agoCBS was probably talking about LEV-2, one of the rovers on board, which did have some contributions from private companies: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smart_Lander_for_Investigating_Moon#Lunar_Excursion_Vehicle_2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smart_Lander_for_Investigating....
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- crispyambulance 3y agoI find the name charming: SLIM == Smart Lander for Investigating Moon
- qingcharles 3y agoLanding was successful. It is communicating with Earth, but the solar cell is not providing power so they are burning up the battery. They are trying to get as much data from the unit as possible before the battery dies. They took photos and are downloading them as priority now. They have been forced to switch off the heater. There is only a few hours of battery available to do what they need. They have separated LEV1 and LEV2 (rovers). Stay posted, they say. Need more time to figure out what is going on.
- sjwhevvvvvsj 3y agoIsn’t there just an “IT guy” they can send over?
- T-A 3y agoYou just reminded me of this little cinematic gem: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1182345/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_8_tt_6_nm_1_q_moon https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1182345/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_8_tt_6...
- HPMOR 3y agoWow seems like a great movie!
- belter 3y agoIt is. Great finale also.
- qingcharles 3y agoIt's an awesome under-rated gem.
- riffraff 3y agoit's an absolute masterpiece.
- noncoml 3y ago
- skeaker 3y agoListening to the press conference, it sounds like the landing was a success but that the solar generators aren't creating any power, so they're currently on low power from the battery as they try to figure that out.
- dang 3y agoRelated articles: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2413336-japans-slim-spacecraft-landed-on-the-moon-but-its-having-problems/ https://www.newscientist.com/article/2413336-japans-slim-spa... https://spacenews.com/japan-makes-history-with-tense-successful-moon-landing/ https://spacenews.com/japan-makes-history-with-tense-success... https://www.bbc.com/news/live/science-environment-68019846 https://www.bbc.com/news/live/science-environment-68019846 (these were all submitted later but there weren't any comments yet to merge)
- seatac76 3y agoThe rovers are so interesting, glad they got those out.
- layer8 3y agoAnyone know why the crater is romanized “shioli” rather than “shiori”?
- z2 3y agohttps://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/15851 https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/15851 Reference: [536] - “‘Deadpool 2’ Sets Actress Shioli Kutsuna In A Key Role”: https://deadline.com/2017/06/deadpool-2-shioli-kutsuna-ryan-reynolds-fox-1202111974/ https://deadline.com/2017/06/deadpool-2-shioli-kutsuna-ryan-... So perhaps the question is, did Shioli's parents choose this spelling because they felt Australians may more correctly pronounce her name with an L instead of an R?
- layer8 3y agoI’m not sure I understand the reference, since it doesn’t mention the crater. It looks like it is just meant to be a evidence that “Shioli” can be a “Japanese female first name”. In either case, that romanization is uncommon, so the question stands. I wondered about pronunciation by foreigners being a motivation, but I would still expect an incorrect pronunciation like “shy-oh-ly”.
- kadoban 3y agoIt's a quote from the first link, about the crater. I believe the meaning is that the crater was named after the actress, and presumably copied the spelling of her name.
- layer8 3y agoThere is no evidence that it was named after her in the referenced Deadpool article, and I would expect the “Origin” field to mention it if it was the case. Your conclusion doesn’t seem plausible to me.
- kadoban 3y agoI couldn't find any other reason for that article to be referenced mostly. Seems like you're probably right though.
- hojinkoh 3y agoCongratulations Japan!
- InCityDreams 3y agoDoe that include prosotuts, their hons, the pimps.....etc?
- AltMatt 3y agoI interviewed the designers of the LEV-2 rover (aka Sora-Q) in late 2022. https://www.newyorker.com/science/elements/a-mini-moon-rover-from-the-toy-company-that-created-transformers https://www.newyorker.com/science/elements/a-mini-moon-rover...