NASA and Intuitive Machines’ second try to land a spacecraft on the Moon seems to have gone awry—again.
The IM-2, also referred to as Athena, was scheduled to land on the lunar floor in the present day. The lander did efficiently contact down on the Moon, however not in the best orientation. “We don’t imagine we’re within the appropriate perspective on the floor of the Moon but once more,” Intuitive Machines CEO Steve Altemus stated in a press convention.
“I don’t have all the info but to say precisely what the perspective of the car is. We’re accumulating images now and downlinking these and we’re going to get an image from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter digicam from above, and we’ll affirm that within the coming days,” he added.
(Credit score: NASA/Intuitive Machines)
The issues turned evident in the course of the live stream of Athena touchdown on the floor. The ultimate images from the spacecraft confirmed it awkwardly approaching the Moon from the car’s facet, relatively than from the underside. The dwell stream then minimize off as Intuitive Machine was unable to substantiate its full standing.
Because of this, there’s rising concern that Athena faces the identical destiny as its predecessor, IM-1 or Odysseus. It too tried to soundly land on the Moon a yr in the past, however ended up tipping over in the course of the course of. This prevented the lander from accumulating new power from the Solar, forcing Intuitive Machines and NASA to abandon the craft because it went offline.
ExtremeTech reports that Intuitive Machines tried to rectify the errors with IM-2 by bettering the craft’s laser instrument to make sure a secure landing. However it appears like Athena could have by accident repeated historical past once more with one other botched touchdown.
Nonetheless, Intuitive Machines’ CEO studies that Athena is “charging on the floor.” The corporate has additionally been in a position to set up uplink and downlink capabilities with the craft. “So we’re speaking,” he stated. “We will command payloads on and off.”
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“We’ve got powered down and achieved some energy conservation steps as prudent measures to see how lengthy and what aims we will accomplish with the mission going ahead,” he added.
Athena is designed to establish and drill for water sources on the Moon. The car additionally carries a drone, named Grace, that may journey as much as 2 kilometers from the lander and discover craters whereas capturing imagery.
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About Michael Kan
Senior Reporter
