Japan¡¯s space agency said Monday that its first lunar lander had regained power and resumed operations, more than a week after its precision landing.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency¡¯s Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) had been in a dormant state since Jan. 20, due to the craft swaying sideways during its descent and landing on its side, facing away from the sun. This resulted in the probe being unable to use solar cells to generate power, and it had to be switched off three hours later.

Before its shutdown, SLIM was able to deploy two small rovers, LEV-1 and LEV-2, from above the lunar surface. LEV-2, also known as SORA-Q, captured images of the probe¡¯s landing, its difficult positioning and its surrounding area ¡ª the Shioli crater on the near side of the moon.

After more than a week without contact, JAXA said in a post on X on Monday that the agency was able to re-establish communications with SLIM at 11 p.m. on Sunday. With the shift from lunar evening to lunar night, the landing site began to face the sun, with light hitting the solar panels, bringing the probe back to life. JAXA immediately reactivated SLIM¡¯s Multi-Band Camera (MBC) to begin detailed observations of the moon¡¯s surface, and it shared test images of its first 10-band observations online. Among the most notable is a lunar rock nicknamed ¡°Toy Poodle,¡± which has been making the rounds on social media sites.

SLIM¡¯s parameters were incredibly tight, with the probe needing a ¡°pinpoint¡± landing within a 100-meter radius of the target. Researching techniques and methods for these types of high-precision landings was a key focus of JAXA¡¯s mission. JAXA said on the SLIM project website that if other pinpoint landings with small spacecraft can be made consistently, landing on other more distant celestial bodies will become a reality.

Another objective of the mission is a detailed investigation into the composition of the rocks on the moon¡¯s surface, in an effort to uncover the moon¡¯s origins.

SLIM¡¯s successful touchdown at 12:20 a.m. on Jan. 20 has added Japan to a list of only five countries in the world to have made a soft landing on the moon, joining the ranks of the former Soviet Union, the United States, China and India. The project is being studied and developed in cooperation with researchers from universities and other organizations across the country, with JAXA playing a central role.