The little rolly-polly probe will hobble and wheel itself around to take pictures of the SLIM lander on the moon.
SLIM, a relatively small spacecraft, measuring less than 9 feet across, will spend the next few months reaching lunar orbit. It will spend another month surveying its landing site inside the moon's Shioli Crater.
Assuming SLIM's descent goes as planned, LEV-2 will release from the lander at approximately 5 feet, 11 inches above the lunar surface, and begin rolling around to image SLIM's landing and the surrounding area. LEV-2's battery power is expected to last about two hours. When the two halves of LEV-2 separate, they are able to function as legs and wheels to allow the tiny probe to move around. Nestled between the halves are two cameras and a stabilizer used to help LEV-2 navigate its surroundings. As it does, it will transmit its data back tothrough LEV-1, a separate probe also aboard SLIM, which will operate in tandem with SLIM and LEV-2.
. Those technologies also helped reduce the size of LEV-2 to satisfy the size constraints of flying aboard the SLIM lander.
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