Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C Athena lander Intuitive Machines‘ latest attempt at a Moon landing ended in disappointment as its Athena spacecraft tipped over upon touchdown, mirroring its first lunar setback last year. The Houston-based company confirmed Friday that the solar-powered lander is unable to recharge, cutting the mission short.The setback marks a premature end to what…
A day after landing on the moon, the robotic Athena spacecraft built by Intuitive Machines of Houston is dead. In an update on its website on Friday, the company confirmed that Athena had tipped onto its side — the same fate that befell its first lunar lander, Odysseus, last year. With its solar panels unable…
Athena didn’t crash. But what did happen to it? Hours after the 15-foot-tall robotic spacecraft arrived at the moon’s surface, closer to the lunar south pole than any spacecraft has been, it remained unclear whether its touchdown was smooth enough to perform its intended work, or if it toppled over in the process, potentially limiting…
March 6, 2025, 9:45 a.m. ET Odysseus captured this image about 35 seconds after pitching over during its approach to the landing site last year.Credit…Intuitive Machines Odysseus, Intuitive Machines’ first lander, landed on the moon in February 2024. But not perfectly. The spacecraft was almost doomed before it even left Earth. Safety switches on laser…
Intuitive Machines landed a robot on the moon last year. Can the Houston company do it again, but keep the spacecraft upright this time? When the spacecraft, named Odysseus, set down on the moon last February, it managed to communicate with Earth even though it had toppled on its side. It was the first commercially…
Nasa is going a long way in space travel by getting ready to launch the first-ever mobile network on the Moon. This historic move is part of Intuitive Machines’ IM-2 mission that will deploy the Lunar Surface Communication System (LSCS), a network that Nokia has developed and will use the same cellular technology employed on…