Athena Spacecraft Lander Mission Failure

Context: Intuitive Machines has declared its second lunar mission, Athena, a failure after it missed its intended landing site on the Moon.

About Athena Spacecraft Lander

• It was 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.

Athena Landing Failure and Mission Termination

• Athena missed its intended landing site by over 250 meters, landing sideways in a crater near the Moon’s south pole.
• The lander returned images confirming its position and activated a few experiments before losing power.
• Extreme cold and poor solar panel alignment made it unlikely to recharge, leading to mission termination.
• The Moon’s south pole is difficult to explore due to:
  • Harsh sun angles affect solar power.
  • Limited communication with Earth.
  • Rugged, uncharted terrain.
• Athena’s landing (160 km from the South Pole) was the closest any spacecraft has reached this region.
• This was Intuitive Machines’ second lunar landing attempt:
  • The first attempt (2024) also resulted in a sideways landing but remained operational for longer.
• In both Athena missions, last-minute failures in the primary laser navigation system caused problems during landing.

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.

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