Dramatic photos from intuitive machines Athena Moonlander It landed on Thursday in a crater near the moon’s Antarctic, indicating that it had flipped its side. Given the low angle of sunlight and the orientation of the Lander solar cells, the spacecraft’s battery quickly drained and led the mission early, a company official said Friday.
“The images of him falling from Athena on the moon confirmed that Athena was by her side,” the company said on its website.
An intuitive machine
“After landing, the mission controller was able to accelerate several programs and payload milestones, including NASA’s Prime-1 (Drill) suite, before the Lander’s batteries ran out,” the statement continued. “Due to the direction of the sun, orientation of the solar panels, and extreme cold of the crater, the intuitive machine does not expect Athena to be charged. The mission is over, and the team continues to evaluate the data collected throughout the mission.”
It was released on February 26th On top of the SpaceX Falcon 9 Rocket, Athena Lander delivered the agency’s payload to the moon with demonstrations of 10 scientific instruments and technology funded by the NASA program that pays commercial spacecraft operators. The goal is to collect the data needed for astronauts before returning to the moon in the 2027-28 time frame.
In this case, NASA agreed to pay $62.5 million for the intuitive machine, delivering the drill and mass spectrometer known as the Prime-1 to the moon. NASA’s “Twisting Point” Technology Development Program paid Nokia Cellular Communications Equipment $15 million and an additional $41 million to help fund a revolutionary rocket-powered “hopper” designed to permanently jump into shadow craters in search of ice.
Athena played perfectly in most ways from launch to lunar orbit and onto the moon. but Just before the touchdownLander’s autonomous guidance and navigation system began piloting to one side, possibly to avoid surface rocks and other hazards, descending into a crater about 820 feet from the intended target.
The spacecraft may have been overturned after hitting the ground at an angle or due to sideways movement. The intuitive thing said he didn’t deal with the final seconds of landing, but even when placed on that side, Athena remained functional, admitting commands from the ground, downlinking the data and trying to charge the battery. But that wasn’t enough.
“This Antarctic region is lit up by the harsh angle of the sun and direct communication with the Earth,” the intuitive machine says on its web page. “The area is avoided due to its robust terrain, and we believe that the intuitive machines will open up the area with insights and achievements from the IM-2 to further explore the area.”
There was a disaster in the landing Second such disappointment For intuitive machines. The first Moonlander of a company named Odysseus landed last month, but crashed into the surface more violently than expected, causing its landing leg to fail. The vehicle ended on that side and was unable to complete the mission.
It was before Athena arrived A successful touchdown It belongs to a commercial lander built by Austin, Texas-based Firefly Aerospace, and also brought to the surface a payload sponsored by NASA. The spacecraft, known as the Blue Ghost, landed on Sunday in another part of the moon, with much more tolerant terrain.
Tokyo-based ISPACE’s third private construction lander was launched on the same Falcon 9 that pushed the Blue Ghost into space. Japan’s Resilience Lander has taken a longer, lower energy route to the moon and is scheduled to land in June.
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