Athena Makes It to the Moon, but Uncertainties Remain
Athena has landed on the moon, but the overall status of the spacecraft remains unclear. The mission’s plans include studies of what lies beneath the lunar surface and a whole lot more
Intuitive Machines’ IM-2 mission lunar lander, Athena, entering lunar orbit on Monday, March 3.
Intuitive Machines/Flickr/(CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Athena, a commercially built spacecraft that is loaded with cutting-edge technology and science experiments, has landed on the moon. But mission controllers at Intuitive Machines, the company that built and operates the spacecraft, have yet to confirm its exact status, although the available data as of this writing suggests Athena is still operational.
If and when Intuitive Machines can conclusively declare that Athena has reached the moon in good health, it will have joined Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost, another commercial lander that made its moonfall on Sunday—upping the tally of active U.S. lunar surface missions to two. The back-to-back feats are considered important precursors to future crewed missions to the moon under NASA’s ambitious Artemis program.
Unlike Blue Ghost’s 45-day voyage to the moon, Athena’s lasted for little more than a week. The spacecraft launched on February 26 and entered lunar orbit on March 3. From there it orbited the moon for about three days (while sending back live beauty shots). It then started its descent from orbit for landing early in the morning on March 6. And at 12:15 P.M. EST, Athena began its final maneuvers toward the surface, a process that was initially expected to last for around 15 minutes. While most of the landing procedures unfolded without issue, no decisive announcements were made about the state of the vehicle as of 12:31 P.M. EST, which was when it was supposed to land. For the next 20 minutes, the mission room bustled with activity as scientists—and Intuitive Machines’ CEO Steve Altemus—joined operators in trying to figure out what was happening.
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“We can confirm Athena is on the surface of the moon,” declared Intuitive Machines’ communication director Josh Marshall, somewhat tersely, at around 12:52…
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