Japans

For Japan to effectively reach its carbon emission reduction goals it must work to implement policies that establish more renewable energy, decarbonize the manufacturing process, and extend vehicle lifetime. Credit: Kyushu University/Samantha Sastrawidjaja Researchers at Kyushu University have found that Japan's current policy of stopping the sale of gas vehicles by 2035 and transitioning only to hybrids and electric…

Watch out, Toyota. BYD continues its dominant overseas expansion after accounting for over 20% of Japan’s EV imports last month. After launching just last year, BYD is already making its presence known as Japan lags behind the auto industry’s shift to electric. BYD accounts for one-fifth of Japan’s EV imports According to new data from the Japan Automobile Importers Association (JAIA) released Wednesday, Japan’s total EV imports reached 1,186. That number is up 11% from last year. Of the…

Against all odds, Japan’s more than a week after it plopped upside down onto the surface of the moon — but now, it’s gone dormant for the duration of the lunar night, and it may not be able to wake up again. The SLIM team from the Japanese space agency, JAXA, on Thursday shared the last image the lander captured at the moon’s Shioli crater before dusk, as night encroached. Lunar night lasts the equivalent of two Earth weeks and can get colder than 200 degrees Fahrenheit.Last night (1/31 ~ 2/1) we sent a command to switch…

Japan's SLIM Moon lander has gone back into sleep mode as the Sun sets on its landing site. The robotic spacecraft began to lose power as the lunar day came to its end and it now faces the freezing cold 14-day lunar night, which it may not survive.Though it only came back online a few days ago, the clock was already running against the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM). When it touched down at Mare Nectaris, south of the Theophilus crater, on January 19, 2024, it bounced and landed on its nose. This placed the…

January 30, 20243 min readAfter a nine-day shutdown, the upside-down lunar lander received enough sunlight to power up againBy Gemma Conroy & Nature magazineThe lander was photographed upside down on the lunar surface. After being stuck without power for more than a week, Japan’s Moon lander has woken up and started snapping images of the lunar surface.On 28 January, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) re-established contact with the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM), which touched down on the slope…

After nine days of sitting on its nose on the lunar surface, Japan’s upside-down Moon lander has finally found power. The “moon sniper,” as the lander has been called by many, landed on the lunar surface on January 20, marking the most precise lunar landing yet. However, something went wrong, and it was quickly powered off, as the solar panels were facing away from the Sun.Thankfully, though, Japan designed the lander to be able to power off and then back on if it were able to get enough of a charge. The result?…

Japan’s box office climbed 4 percent to a post-pandemic high of $1.5 billion (221.5 billion yen) in 2023, driven again by a strong slate of anime and a steady return to theaters. Hollywood films maintained the same market share of around 31 percent as the previous year, though a very weak yen reduced earnings in dollar terms.   The Japanese currency falling toward the 150-mark against the greenback means that when converted, the annual box office fell from last year’s $1.64 billion even though takings…

Japan's SLIM lunar lander is back online and transmitting data. JAXA has confirmed that the Sun has moved into a position where light is landing on the robotic spacecraft's solar panel, allowing it to finally charge its battery.The fate of the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) lander has hung in the balance ever since it touched down at Mare Nectaris, south of the Theophilus crater, on January 19, 2024. It should have been cause for celebration, making Japan the fifth nation to land on the Moon. It was also the…

Despite taking an unfortunate tumble on the lunar surface, Japan’s lunar lander has regained power more than a week after ending up face down on the Moon.China's Plan to Land Astronauts on the MoonThe Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) announced on Sunday that it had established communication with its Moon mission and resumed its operations. SLIM’s multiband spectroscopic camera (MBC) was even used to snap a photo of a rock dubbed “toy poodle” on the lunar surface, the space agency wrote on X.SLIM, short for Smart…

Japan's lunar lander has regained power a full nine days after it landed on the moon's surface nearly upside down and was subsequently switched off, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) announced. A change in the sun's position allowed the solar panels to receive light and charge the probe's battery, allowing JAXA to re-establish communication.Things were looking dire shortly after the SLIM (Smart Lander for Investigating Moon) touched down. The agency immediately noticed a problem with power generation, but was able…