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Useless Athena moon lander observed within its crater grave from lunar orbit (pictures)

Useless Athena moon lander observed within its crater grave from lunar orbit (pictures)
March 13, 2025



We have photographs of the Athena moon lander’s ultimate resting position.Athena, the second one lunar lander from Houston corporate Intuitive Machines, tipped over all over its landing on March 6, finishing up on its facet inside a small crater close to the moon’s south pole.This orientation avoided the lander’s sun panels from taking pictures sufficient daylight, and Intuitive Machines declared Athena useless on March 7. (The corporate’s first moon lander, named Odysseus, additionally tipped over all over its historical February 2024 landing however was once in a position to perform for longer at the lunar floor.)spacecraft photo of the cratered lunar surface, with a white-box enlargement showing the location of a lander inside a craterEvery other shot of Athena from LRO, this time on March 10, 2025. The lander is within a crater on the middle backside of the body; the inset presentations a 4x growth of that house. (Symbol credit score: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State College)Athena beamed house a couple of photographs of its setting ahead of giving up the ghost. And we have now perspectives of the lander and its crater grave from on top, courtesy of NASA’s sharp-eyed Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO).On March 7, LRO captured an attractive indirect photograph of Athena and its touchdown website — the Mons Mouton area, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) from the lunar south pole. Then, 3 days later, the probe snapped any other pic, which equipped a more in-depth have a look at Athena at the shadowed ground of a 65-foot-wide (20 meters) crater.Similar: Non-public Intuitive Machines moon lander declared useless after falling on its facet in crater on the lunar south poleAthena’s venture, referred to as IM-2, was once supported via NASA’s Business Lunar Payload Services and products (CLPS) program, which places company science tools on personal moon landers.Breaking area information, the most recent updates on rocket launches, skywatching occasions and extra!The experiments on board Athena — and the ride-along robots, like Colorado corporate Lunar Outpost’s MAPP rover and Intuitive Machines’ hopping spacecraft “Grace” — did not get their deliberate science time at the lunar floor.However the lander did live to tell the tale for some time ahead of its batteries died. And its transient existence may just lend a hand pave the way in which for long term paintings within the house, which is believed to harbor massive shops of water ice, Intuitive Machines stated.”This southern pole area is lit via harsh solar angles and restricted direct communique with the Earth,” the corporate wrote in a March 7 venture replace. “This house has been have shyed away from because of its rugged terrain, and Intuitive Machines believes the insights and achievements from IM-2 will open this area for additional area exploration.”two legs of a moon lander jutting up with the earth half-lit overheadIntuitive Machines’ 2d moon lander, named Athena, captured this selfie after tipping over all over its March 6, 2025 landing. (Symbol credit score: Intuitive Gadget)Athena hit the grey dust simply 4 days after any other CLPS-supported lander, Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost, touched down within the moon’s northern hemisphere.LRO, which has been finding out the moon from lunar orbit since 2009, has additionally captured pictures of Blue Ghost. The Firefly lander stays wholesome and is predicted to proceed running till March 16, when the solar units over its locale.

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