Athena Lander of intuitive machines is on the moon, but her fate is not clear

Athena did not crash. But what happened?

A few hours after the 15 -feet high robotic spacecraft arrived on the surface of the moon, closer to the lunar southern pole than any spaceship, it remained clear if its touch was smooth to do its expected work, or if it overthrew in the process, which potentially limits the scientific achievements of the mission.

“We are trying to assess exactly what happened in this last song,” said Tim Crain, director of intuitive machine technology during a press conference.

The spaceship is almost identical to Ulysses, the landing that the company sent to the moon last year. Ulysses was the first commercial vehicle to successfully land on the Moon. But this success came with an asterisk when the vehicle overturned shortly after reaching the ground.

It seems that it could have reproduced.

During a press conference after landing, Steve Altemus, Managing Director of Intuitive Machines, said that the spaceship had returned contradictory data on the standing or paid position. But a sensor known as an inertial unit of measurement offered a perhaps convincing index that Ahéna was on the other hand.

While heading towards the lunar surface, the laser instruments that measured the altitude of the landing supplied noisy data, which may have contributed to the sloppy landing.

Until this final descent, Athena had performed at the Ulysse lander a year ago, Dr. Crain said intuitive machines. “We expected a fully successful landing,” he said.