Japan Moon lander survives lunar night

A Japanese-made lander that touched down on the Moon earlier this year has successfully survived the extremely cold lunar night, a major milestone for the mission.

The lander, named Kaguya after the ancient Japanese moon princess, successfully endured the harsh conditions on the Moon during its night phase, where temperatures can plummet to as low as -180 degrees Celsius.

Scientists and engineers at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) breathed a sigh of relief as they received signals from the lander indicating that it had successfully powered back on and resumed communication with Earth after the long lunar night.

The success of the lander’s survival of the lunar night opens up new possibilities for future missions to the Moon and beyond. JAXA scientists are now planning to conduct further experiments and collect valuable data from the Moon’s surface.

Overall, the successful survival of the lunar night by the Kaguya lander is a significant achievement for Japan’s space exploration efforts and a step forward in humanity’s quest to explore and understand the mysteries of the Moon.