Intuitive instruments of land shaken land on the moon, the mission ends

Moon’s commercial tasks with NASA connections are all anger at the present time. Firefly Aerospace holds the moon The mission of the blue ghost is declining On March 2. Intuitive machines hope for a similar success in the IM-2 mission Thursday morning. Athena Lander reached the moon, but ended up with it.

By the time Livestream concluded the landing on Thursday, the intuitive machines confirmed the landing, but two major questions remained. Where did Athens fell? What is the position in it? On Friday, the company answered both.

“We don’t think we are in the right situation on the surface of the moon,” Steve Altimos, CEO of an intuitive company told a press conference on Thursday. The situation indicates Lander’s orientation.

“The pictures associated with Athens on the surface of the moon confirmed that Athena was next to it,” He said intuitive machines On Friday update.

Athens made adjustments during the landing to avoid risks on the surface, which led to uncertainty about his exact position. The intuitive machines later set that they landed about 820 feet from their intended goal.

The side landing means an early end of the expected science processes in Lander.

“With the direction of the sun, the direction of the solar panels, and severe cold temperatures in the hole, the intuitive machines are not expected to recharge Athens,” the team said. The task is now over.

How to watch IM-2 landing

Most of the landing process went well. Athens remained in contact with the intuitive machines and even sending pictures from the landing and from the surface.

Covering a live drop in NASA for free NASA flow service in addition to Starting from about an hour before landing. NASA is available through the site or NASA application. The broadcast was also on YouTube If you want to see.

What is IM-2?

Machines’ Nova-C Lunar Lander, nicknamed ATHENA, carried a set of scientific tools and robots, including a jumping drone, multiple small enthusiasm and NASA drilling is designed to overcome 3 feet under the surface. Lander’s shipment included both NASA and a commercial load, but the early mission end means that many of its scientific tasks have not been implemented.

The task is part of NASA’s lunar loader services program, and it is an effort by the Space Agency to use private companies to send Landers and Rovers to the moon. NASA’s goals in Artemis Moon are to return astronauts to the moon and create a long -term human presence there. IM-2 was at the service of that vision.

When did the im-2 fall?

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Athens started on February 26, with the launch of the Florida SPACEX FALCON missile. The intuitive machines targeted the mission dropping at 9:32 am on Thursday. The landing site was near the southern pole of the moon, a targeted area of ​​NASA for future human exploration.

The timing was partially dictated by the availability of sunlight on the moon. Athens Lander used solar energy. Intuitive machines expect Lander to work for about 10 days if they have fallen in a stable direction.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology on the moon to stay

There was another way to interact with the task. The Xfinity service from Comcast and MIT Media Laboratory has cooperated to cover actual time. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology participates in the independent exploration platform for the IM-2 Mission. MAPP is designed to rough terrain using sensors and visual signals.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology To the moon to stay The program includes educational resources and presented a Live broadcast of landing. The Massachusetts Institute for Menkin planned

Xfinity X1 clients can reach mission resources and live broadcast by saying “to the moon” to the remote control devices.

Why is im-2 important

The satellite missions tend to attract a lot of attention. IM-2 may have had humans on the plane, but it was worth following up on the wonderful science. Planetary scientist Phil Metzger, Professor of Research at the University of Central Florida, highlighted the Ice Mining Anti -Resources 1 experience.

Prime-1 aims to measure ice in moon soil, and this is a big problem.

“This ice contains a record of the history of the inner solar system and may help us to understand how to deliver water and carbon to the Earth’s system of one billion years ago, which turns the Earth into a home -based planet,” Metzger told CNET. “This is very important to understand the number of other planets that may be able to support life in the galaxy, so it helps in answering the question,” Are we alone in the universe? “You cannot become more deep than that.

NASA was hoping to help PRIME-1 researchers understand the availability of water. Water is heavy and costly to transport through space, so future human campaigns will want to use what is already on the moon. The intuitive machines said that she was able to “accelerate” NASA’s PRIME-1 wing, but she did not say what he was able to achieve during the short power period of power.

The landing on the moon is difficult

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I tried many tasks and failed to fall successfully on the moon. The Russian Luna-25 mission was crashed into the moon in 2023. Bersh’s mission in Israel India Chandrayaan-2 Vikram Lander Both were crashed in 2019.

“The lands of the moon are difficult, not only because the lunar environment is very harsh and strange, but because we fly a few of them,” said Metzger, noting that the failures are part of learning how to make the ligament of the moon reliable.

It is difficult to fall on the surface of the moon more than Earth.

“The moon has a large weight enough to make it difficult to land quietly, but there is no atmosphere to help slow down one of the parties,” says Josh Kulwell, Assistant Dean of the Faculty of Science at the University of Central Florida. “The surface is very rough in all spatial measures, so the shift to a march is a real danger.”

It is not only about good landing devices. The programs and systems on board must analyze the surface to help direct Lander to a safe spot.

Lunar landing, partially due to the risks that the machines must move to ensure a safe landing.

You may wonder what happened to the IM-1 mission. The intuitive machines were delivered Odysseus Lander To the moon in 2024, but not everything is fine. The landing reached the surface, but it ended side by side, and put a perforated on his scientific work.

Athens is not expected to put an unexpected landing of what happened to IM-1. The intuitive machines highlighted a noticeable achievement of the brief mission: “This was the far south of landing and the surface operations that were ever made.” The landing on the moon is difficult. The landing of the rugged Antarctica in the moon is more difficult.