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123

Athena spacecraft declared dead after toppling over on moon (www.theguardian.com)

submitted 3 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

18 comments fedilink hide all child comments

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.

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[–] [email protected] 36 points 3 days ago (2 children)

We've all had Kerbal Space Program missions that went like that.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 3 days ago

Time for a new mission to rescue Bill!

8 missions and 8 dead pilots later: ah fuck it

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 days ago

they should just reload the previous save

[–] [email protected] 25 points 3 days ago (1 children)

This article was amended on 8 March 2025. The Athena craft touched down 250 meters, not 250 miles, from its intended landing site.

[–] [email protected] 32 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I bet they had "250m" in the report and the too-US-brained reporter went "hmm, yes. 250 miles"

[–] [email protected] 17 points 3 days ago (1 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Get them to watch some robot war shows. Those things all have devices to flip back over.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago

Flipping over on the Moon could be hard. You coud accidentally jump pretty far.

[–] Tikiporch 9 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

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?

[–] finitebanjo 10 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

Lmao

Fucking private space firms

Somebody should make that ironman meme "NASA built this in THE 60S with a box of 32,768 BITS"

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago

RIP ):