Intuitive Machines' second Moon mission seems to have gone as well as the first

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The second lunar lander by Intuitive Machines has made its way to the Moon, however not with out incident. The Athena automobile will not be upright, which is what occurred to the corporate’s Odysseus lander upon touchdown again in February. CEO Steve Altemus stated during the post-landing news conference that he doesn’t consider that Athena is “within the right angle on the floor of the Moon but once more.”

Altemus stated that the corporate will know for certain within the coming days as soon as the group will get “an image from the lunar reconnaissance orbital digicam from above.” Knowledge from the lander’s inertial measurement unit does appear to point a sideways orientation. We do know that Athena has touched down roughly 100 miles from the lunar south pole, which is the place it's speculated to be.

Athena is a part of the company’s IM-2 mission, which is a partnership with NASA to (lastly) carry crewed missions again to the Moon. The lander additionally carries a bevy of payloads and scientific devices designed to search for proof of water on the lunar floor.

The corporate’s earlier lander Odysseus was the primary privately owned spacecraft to succeed in the Moon’s floor, although it toppled over. Rival firm Firefly Aerospace efficiently landed its personal Blue Ghost spacecraft onto the lunar floor earlier this week, and this one landed upright.

As for Athena, it’s at the moment charging on the floor and is speaking with the mission group right here on Earth. Nevertheless, efficiency appears to be sub-optimal. “We’re not getting every part that we had requested for when it comes to energy technology and communications,” Altemus stated. This might affect the lifespan of the lander’s ten-day mission, although the corporate has “completed some energy conservation steps as prudent measures to see how lengthy and what aims we will accomplish within the mission going ahead.”

When the orientation is confirmed, the group can begin determining how lots of the payloads and devices are in working order. These embrace a drill that searches for ice and a hopping drone automobile that the corporate has scheduled to discover a completely shadowed crater.

This text initially appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/house/intuitive-machines-second-moon-mission-seems-to-have-gone-as-well-as-the-first-162637189.html?src=rss

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