The unmanned lunar probe Athena from the U.S. private company Intuitive Machines stopped functioning less than a day after falling during the lunar landing process.
According to the British Guardian on the 7th (local time), Intuitive Machines declared the suspension of Athena's operation. Intuitive Machines stated, "Due to the direction of the sun and solar panels, and the extremely low temperatures within the crater, we do not expect Athena to recharge," adding, "The mission has ended, and the related team continues to evaluate the data collected during the mission."
Athena, launched from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on the 26th of last month, attempted to land at 12:31 PM Eastern Time the previous day in the Mons Mouton region, a plateau about 160 km away from the lunar south pole. Data transmission from Athena was interrupted for a while after the presumed time of lunar landing.
About 20 minutes later, Intuitive Machines said, "Athena is on the lunar surface. We are trying to determine the orientation of the spacecraft," but later revealed that Athena was unable to stand upright on the surface.
As Athena ultimately failed to stand up and ceased operation, Intuitive Machines ended the mission, similar to the unmanned lunar probe Odysseus launched last year.
Athena was the second lunar landing mission conducted by Intuitive Machines under a contract with NASA, carried out as part of the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program.
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