A robotic private spacecraft designed to provide crucial data for returning humans to the moon toppled over as it landed on the lunar surface, bringing an immediate and premature end to the mission, its operators said on Friday.
Athena, a probe launched by the Texas-based company Intuitive Machines (IM) last month, touched down about 250 miles from its intended landing site near the moon’s south pole on Thursday. Initially at least, it was generating some power and sending information to Earth as engineers worked to make sense of data showing an “incorrect attitude”.
On Friday, however, IM declared Athena dead.
“With the direction of the sun, the orientation of the solar panels, and extreme cold temperatures in the crater, Intuitive Machines does not expect Athena to recharge,” it said in a statement confirming that the 15ft (4.6 meter) spacecraft was on its side.
18 Comments
zurohki@aussie.zone · 36 pts · 1y
We've all had Kerbal Space Program missions that went like that.
Ricaz@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 13 pts · 1y
Time for a new mission to rescue Bill!
8 missions and 8 dead pilots later: ah fuck it
SkaveRat@discuss.tchncs.de · 4 pts · 1y
they should just reload the previous save
elmicha@feddit.org · 25 pts · 1y
SkaveRat@discuss.tchncs.de · 32 pts · 1y
I bet they had "250m" in the report and the too-US-brained reporter went "hmm, yes. 250 miles"
jaybone@lemmy.world · -7 pts · 1y
Well it’s also a US company.
SchmidtGenetics@lemmy.world · 17 pts · 1y
Sciences and space has used SI for ever….
Cheradenine@sh.itjust.works · 10 pts · 1y
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Climate_Orbiter
geneva_convenience@lemmy.ml · 6 pts · 1y
Clearly the moon uses metric.
corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca · 5 pts · 1y
Are you suggesting a US company that shoots rockets to the moon can't be arsed to follow even a global standard? Like, who the hell else can it be doing business with if the Imperial standard from a king 200 years ago is its ride-or-die baggage?
Glimpythegoblin@lemm.ee · 1 pts · 1y
I do specialized scientific machining and design in the US and it's all imperial. Not because it's the best but it's what's been done.
FabledAepitaph@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 1y
From Texas. They're not going to attract the best and brightest down there.
fubarx@lemmy.ml · 17 pts · 1y
The first one was tall and skinny and toppled over after a landing leg malfunctioned. So they sent a second tall skinny probe, loaded with expensive equipment. Aaaand it fell over.
Maybe somebody should tell them about center of gravity and redundant systems.
jaxxed@lemmy.ml · 8 pts · 1y
Get them to watch some robot war shows. Those things all have devices to flip back over.
ReakDuck@lemmy.ml · 2 pts · 1y
Flipping over on the Moon could be hard. You coud accidentally jump pretty far.
finitebanjo@lemmy.world · 10 pts · 1y
Lmao
Fucking private space firms
Somebody should make that ironman meme "NASA built this in THE 60S with a box of 32,768 BITS"
Tikiporch@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 1y
Cool, more moon litter. Will it end up like the path to the summit of Everest, we have to place signs telling the billionaires to please clean up after themselves?
heidih49@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 2 pts · 1y
RIP ):