The second lunar mission of intuitive machines seems to have gone as well as the first
The second moon launteer of intuitive machines your way to the moonBut not without an accident. The vehicle in Athens may not be upright that has happened to the company Odysseus Lander when pressed Back in February. CEO Steve Altem said During the press conference after landing That he does not believe that Athens is again “in the right attitude of the surface of the moon.”
Altemus said the company would know for sure in the coming days after the team received a “photo from the lunar intelligence camera on top”. Lander’s inertial measurement data seems to indicate side water orientation. We know that Athens has touched about 100 miles from the lunar South Pole where it should be.
Athens is part of IM-2 mission of the companyWhich is a partnership with NASA to (finally) return crews to the moon missions. Lander also carries many useful loads and scientific instruments designed to seek evidence of water on the moon’s surface.
The previous Lander Odysseus of the company was the first spacecraft to reach the surface of the moon, although it was transferred. The rival company Firefly Aerospace has successfully landed its own spacecraft Blue Ghost on the moon’s surface earlier this week, And this one landed uprightS
As for Athens, it is currently charging to the surface and communicates with the mission team here on Earth. However, the performance seems to be non -optimal. “We don’t get everything we have requested in terms of electricity production and communications,” Altem said. This can affect the life of Lander’s ten -day mission, although the company “has taken some steps to protect power as reasonable measures to see how long and what goals we can achieve in the mission forward.”
When the orientation is confirmed, the team can start to figure out how many of the payloads and tools are able. These include a workout looking for ice and a jumping vehicle that the company plans to explore a permanently shaded crater.
This article originally appeared at Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/space/intuit-machines-second-mon-mission-SEMS-O-KE-Gone-S-SS-FIRST-62637
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