Athena spacecraft declared dead after toppling over on moon
Athena spacecraft declared dead after toppling over on moon
Robotic private spacecraft touched down about 250 meters from its intended landing site on Thursday
A robotic private spacecraft designed to provide crucial data for returning humans to the moon toppled over as it landed on the lunar surface, bringing an immediate and premature end to the mission, its operators said on Friday.
Athena, a probe launched by the Texas-based company Intuitive Machines (IM) last month, touched down about 250 miles from its intended landing site near the moon’s south pole on Thursday. Initially at least, it was generating some power and sending information to Earth as engineers worked to make sense of data showing an “incorrect attitude”.
On Friday, however, IM declared Athena dead.
“With the direction of the sun, the orientation of the solar panels, and extreme cold temperatures in the crater, Intuitive Machines does not expect Athena to recharge,” it said in a statement confirming that the 15ft (4.6 meter) spacecraft was on its side.
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This article was amended on 8 March 2025. The Athena craft touched down 250 meters, not 250 miles, from its intended landing site.
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I bet they had "250m" in the report and the too-US-brained reporter went "hmm, yes. 250 miles"
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Well it’s also a US company.
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Sciences and space has used SI for ever….
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Clearly the moon uses metric.
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Well it’s also a US company.
Are you suggesting a US company that shoots rockets to the moon can't be arsed to follow even a global standard? Like, who the hell else can it be doing business with if the Imperial standard from the a king 200 years ago is its ride-or-die baggage?
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I do specialized scientific machining and design in the US and it's all imperial. Not because it's the best but it's what's been done.
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From Texas. They're not going to attract the best and brightest down there.
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