JAXA said that SLIM’s solar panel system has resumed operation after a period of not generating electricity because the panels were not facing the Sun as planned. JAXA has been in contact with SLIM since the night of January 28 and the lunar lander has taken pictures of rocks. Previously, JAXA said SLIM is capable of generating energy by changing the direction of sunlight. According to JAXA, if sunlight hits the Moon from the West, the solar panels can generate electricity.

On the morning of January 20, JAXA announced that SLIM had successfully landed on the surface of the Moon. The landing location achieved unprecedented accuracy, less than 10m, possibly about 3-4m, from the expected location. Accordingly, Japan has become the 5th country to have a spacecraft landing on the Moon, after the former Soviet Union, the US, China and India. However, after the spacecraft landed, JAXA could not determine whether the spacecraft’s solar battery system was generating electricity or not. On January 22, JAXA said it had turned off SLIM’s power to restart it, after completing the transmission of technical data and images collected during the landing as well as on the lunar surface.