Athena Spacecraft Declared Dead after Toppling Over on Moon

Athena spacecraft, a private lunar lander, successfully reached the Moon but toppled over on landing, ending its mission prematurely. Check here all about the Athena spacecraft.

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Context: The Athena lander has successfully landed on the Moon’s surface. However, concerns remain regarding its exact condition and orientation after landing.

About Athena Spacecraft Lander

It is developed by Intuitive Machines under NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program.
- CLPS program is designed to facilitate private sector lunar exploration.
Location: Mons Mouton, approximately 160 km from the Moon’s South Pole—the closest landing to the South Pole ever achieved.
NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter will soon capture images of Athena to determine its exact position.

Scientific Goals

Primary Objective: Search for subsurface water ice—a crucial resource for future lunar missions.
Conduct studies to support NASA’s Artemis program for long-term human exploration.
Test advanced technologies that could be used for future lunar and Mars missions.

Scientific Instruments

Micro Nova Hopper (Grace) – A Jumping Robot

Designed to hop across the Moon’s surface instead of rolling like traditional rovers.
It can leap 100 meters high and travel up to 2 km (1.2 miles).
Planned to make five jumps to land inside a permanently shadowed crater to capture the first-ever images of its interior.
Permanently shaded areas are ideal locations for finding ice, as they remain at extremely low temperatures.

NASA’s Scientific Instruments

Trident Drill: Designed to churn up lunar rocks and soil.
- Its goal was to determine if ice existed beneath the Moon’s surface.
Mass Spectrometer: It will analyze gases released from the lunar surface.
Lunar Mobile Communications Antenna (4G Technology by Nokia): Aims to establish a mobile communication network on the Moon.