Intuitive Machines has published on social network X the first images taken by the Athena spacecraft. On it you can see the probe against the background of our planet.
Selfie of the Athena device
Athena was launched on February 27 using a Falcon 9 rocket, whose second stage can be seen in one of the published images. According to Intuitive Machines, the vehicle is in perfect technical condition: it is receiving power and communicating with it.
Soon, Athena will perform a series of maneuvers that will send it on a journey to the Moon. If all goes well, on March 6, the device will perform a moon landing. The place of its landing will be Mons Mouton – the highest lunar mountain, officially named. Its height from the base to the top is 6 km, it is located 160 km from the south pole of the Moon. Mons Mouton is believed to have formed as part of the rim of the South Pole-Aitken impact basin. Therefore, it is of great interest to scientists who are trying to reconstruct the events that formed the early Moon.
After landing, Athena will drill the lunar surface for water ice and volatiles. The vehicle will also land several self-propelled vehicles, one of which will navigate the lunar surface by rocket-powered jumping. Athena will also collect radiation data and deploy the first ever 4G network on the Moon.
Odin and Lunar Trailblaze problems
In addition to Athena, Falcon 9 also sent several companion vehicles into space. One of them is the Odin probe built by AstroForge, which is supposed to explore the near-Earth asteroid 2022 OB5. Its flight is not going as smoothly as the Athena mission. Engineers were not immediately able to establish contact with the apparatus. Judging by some reports, it may have had orientation problems and is now in a slow tumbling mode.
The Lunar Trailblazer, which is operated by NASA, also has problems. It is supposed to enter orbit around the Moon and to determine the mineralogical composition of its surface and map water ice deposits.
Some time after separation from Falcon 9, contact with the Lunar Trailblazer was lost. Analysis of the received telemetry showed problems with the probe’s power supply system. Subsequently, the device again turned on the transmitter and came into contact. Currently, NASA engineers are trying to understand the cause of the failure and develop a strategy for its elimination.
