Japan’s space agency has abandoned efforts to revive communications with its lunar lander mission after failing to receive a signal for several months.

Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (Slim) was originally launched in September 2023 by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (Jaxa) and landed on the lunar surface in January this year.

The main purpose of Japan’s first lunar surface mission was to achieve a precise lunar landing. Although Slim touched down successfully, it landed on its side, with the solar panels oriented westwards, facing away from the Sun at the start of the lunar day, thereby failing to generate enough power.

Slim was put into standby mode, although a change in lighting conditions in its landing area caused the solar panels to begin generating again some weeks after its initial descent.

Over the following months, Jaxa would intermittently wake up the spacecraft to harvest data about the Moon and send pictures back to Earth. But the agency has not been able to contact...