Intuitive Machines Lander Lands Wonky on Moon, Mission Ends
- Intuitive Machines' Athena lander touched down on the Moon on March 2, but landed on its side instead of upright, ending its science operations prematurely.
- The lander was about 820 feet from its intended target and experienced power generation issues due to its position, according to Intuitive Machines.
- The mission was part of NASA's effort to involve private companies in lunar exploration, despite previous lander failures like Russia's Luna-25.
- Intuitive Machines confirmed the landing was the southernmost lunar landing ever achieved, despite facing similar challenges as their previous mission.
152 Articles
152 Articles
Photo taken on the moon shows what went wrong with an American space company's latest mission
Athena landed inside a crater on the Moon.Intuitive MachinesAerospace company Intuitive Machines launched its lunar lander Athena in February.The lunar lander traveled through space in SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket.It landed on its side in a crater 820 feet away from the intended landing site and is no longer functioning.Intuitive Machines, an American space company, launched its lunar lander Athena to the moon in late February, but the craft had a r…
Humankind Has Infected the Moon With Imagine Dragons
In an effort to send Earth's best, the private space company Intuitive Machines succeeded in some ways — and failed in others. During its botched mission that saw its Athena lunar lander tip over and die in a crater, the Houston-based company did manage, as Stereogum reports, to deploy one of its payloads: an eight-terabyte data center that's home to a song by the exceedingly generic alt-rock outfit Imagine Dragons. And no, we're not talking abo…
Last week saw two very different Moon landings
Last week was a big week for NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services program as it saw two landings by two different companies. The hope was that the agency would end up with two successful providers of NASA science to the Moon’s surface; instead, it saw one, with the other falling over once again. more…
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