NavList:

Peter Monta, you wrote:
"Otherwise, it will have to be a photo from one of the lunar orbiters"

I think that's the most likely method for getting the exact position (since it does sound as if the lander is now dead, unless the solar panels somehow get a better sun angle in the next few days). LRO should photograph the JAXA lander within the next couple of weeks...

And this highlights a key difference in navigation on different sorts of worlds. There's no weather on the Moon. A modest number of satellites with high magnification cameras can survey the entire Moon on a regular basis, and navigation then becomes easy: just contact the satellite for a position update. Mars, too, has minimal weather, and a similar "Orbital Traffic Control" approach to navigation can work there, assuming everyone hunkers down during those occasional global dust storms!

Frank Reed