The commercial missions of the moon with NASA links are all anger now. Aerospace Firefly Aerospace stuck landing on your mission of blue spirits On March 2. Intuitive machines were hoping for a similar success with their IM-2 mission on Thursday morning. Lander Athena made it on the surface of the moon, but not everything went smoothly.
By the time they ended up live on the landing, intuitive machines confirmed the touch, but two big questions remained. Where did Athena land? What position is it in?
“We do not think we are in the correct attitude on the surface of the moon,” said Intuitive Machine CEO Steve Altemus at an afternoon press conference. The attitude relates to land orientation. It seems probably the vehicle is not properly upright.
Athens made adjustments during landing to avoid surface hazards, leading to uncertainty about its exact location.
“I believe we are close to the planned landing place,” Altmus said. NASA's lunar recording orbiter will try to catch Athens from above to determine where it landed.
There are several positive signs. Intuitive machines are in contact with Athens and its burden. Lander generates solar energy. After the company and NASA resolve Athens' position and power, they will make a scientific plan to get the most out of the mission.
Athens is expected to send pictures of the surface, which should help the team determine the orientation of the landing.
How to rethink the landing of IM-2
Most of the landing process went well. Athens remained in contact with intuitive machines and even sent pictures of lowering.
Nasa broadcast covering live on live on free NASA's plus streaming service Starting about an hour before the touch. NASA Plus is available through the web site or NASA application. The broadcast was also included YouTube If you want to rethink.
What is im-2?
The lunar lunder of the intuitive machines, Nova-C, nickname Athena, carries a package of scientific instruments and robots, including a drone, multiple small rover and NASA drill designed to bury 3 meters below the surface. Lander's load includes both NASA and commercial loads.
The mission is part of NASA's commercial lunar load service program, an attempt by the space agency to use private companies to send Landers and Rovers to the moon. NASA's susceptible goals through their program “Artemis Moon” should return astronauts to the lunar surface and establish a long -term presence of man there. Im-2 is in the service of that vision.
“Lunder brings NASA technology that will measure the potential presence of lunar soil resources that can be extracted and used by future fuel -producers or oxygen that can breathe”, “” said the space agency In Tuesday's update.
When was the landing of the moon I 2?
The Mission to them-2 sent several views to the country after launching in February.
Athens' travels began on February 26 with the launch of the SpaceX Falcon 9 from Florida. Intuitive machines directed the mission landing at 9:32 pm on Thursday. The landing site is near the south pole of the moon, the main region of NASA for future human research.
The weather was partially dictated by the availability of sunlight on the surface of the moon. Lander Athens uses solar energy. Intuitive machines expect land to work for about 10 days if everything goes well.
Myth to the moon to stay
There is another way to get involved in the mission. The XFINITY service of Comcast and Mit Media Lab teamed up for real -time coverage. Myth is included in the lunar platform for mobile autonomous quests of the IM-2 mission, Rover. MAPP is designed to navigate with rough terrain using sensors and visual signs.
Myth To the moon to stay Program features are educational resources and delivered A. Livestream of landing Along with other key mission events. Myth was planning later live food in connection with MAPP Rover, but it is not known whether the rover can be deployed.
The Xfinity X1 clients can access the mission resources and live, saying “to the moon” on their voice remote controls.
Why im-2 is important
Crew space missions tend to attract a lot of attention. IM-2 may not have people on the ship, but it's worth following about fascinating science. Planetary scientist Phil Metzger, a professor of research at the University of Central Florida, highlights the ice mining experiment on the polar resources mission 1.
Premier-1 aims to measure the ice in the soil of the moon and that is a big deal.
“That ice contains a record of the history of the internal solar system and can help us understand how water and carbon were delivered to the country-moon system billion years, turning Earth into a planet that could appear,” Metzger told CNET. “This is crucial to understand how many other planets can be able to support life in the galaxy, so it helps to answer the question:” Are we alone in the cosmos? “You can't be deeper than that.
NASA hopes that Prime-1 will help researchers understand the availability of water. Water is difficult and expensive to transport through space, so future human expeditions will want to use what is already on the moon.
Takee takes time to determine whether Premier-1 will be able to pursue his goals after Athens' winning landing.
Landing the moon is hard
Athens sent a lunar selfie while in orbit around the moon.
Many missions tried and failed to land on the moon successfully. Russia's Luna-25 mission crashed into the moon in 2023. Israeli mission Bereshet and India Chandrayan-2 Vikram Lander Both collapsed in 2019.
“Lunar land is a challenge, not just because the lunar environment is so cruel and exotic, but because we fly so little of them,” Metzger said, noting that failures are part of learning how to make lands on the moon.
It is much harder to touch the moon than on Earth.
“The moon has enough gravity to be a challenge to descend gently, but there is no atmosphere to help slow down the land,” says Oshosh Colwell, a Dean of the College of Sciences at the University of Central Florida. “The surface is very rough on all spatial proportions, so the top of the land is a real risk.”
It's not just about having a good landing hardware. The ship's software and systems must analyze the surface to help run land in a safe place.
Lunar landings are exciting, partly because of the dangers that machines must move to ensure a safe touch.
You may be wondering what happened to the IM-1 mission. Intuitive machines delivered their Odysseus Lander to the moon in 2024, but not everything went right. Lander made it on the surface, but finished sideways, placing a shock absorber for his scientific work.
The unexpected position of landing Athens is reminiscent of what happened to I-2, but the impact on the scientific goals of the mission will take time to understand. There is still hope that he will be able to accomplish some of his work.
Watch this: Watch intuitive machines-2 lunar landing and moon images of origin