The moon seems to be an increasingly busy place, with missions headed in its direction being planned all the time. This is, ...

We now know why Intuitive Machine's Athena moon lander fell on its side shortly after touching down on March 6.

Safely reaching the surface of Earth's satellite is hard. 2025 has brought both successes and shortfalls for companies and ...

A landing leg broke and the spacecraft tipped ... Thursday morning, while flying over the far side of the moon, Athena's main engine fired, starting a process to lower the far side of its orbit ...

touched down on the moon last year, but it hit the surface harder than expected and a landing leg failed. The vehicle ended up on its side and unable to complete its mission. Athena's arrival was ...

• Houston-based company Intuitive Machines put its Athena spacecraft on the moon around 12:31 p.m. ET, but the lander’s exact status is currently unclear. • Mission teams believe the ...

The rover should deploy soon after landing and send back images from ... Both vehicles will use the LSCS to communicate with Athena on the moon, even when Grace descends into the permanently ...

Descent Orbit Insertion — Terrain Relative Navigation When the time comes, Athena will have a complex dance to fly along its path to landing. From the far side of the moon, outside of regular ...

[Courtesy: Intuitive Machines] Intuitive Machines’ second lunar lander to reach the moon’s surface—Athena —has powered off after landing sideways on the lunar south pole. The Houston-based ...

The landing captured ... needs during missions to the moon and Mars. The company's Lunar Surface Communications System will use its 4G/LTE network to connect Athena with two other vehicles on ...

But landing Athena on the moon's south pole is just the first step in its mission. Aboard the lunar lander is a fleet of technology that NASA and other private companies paid to have delivered to ...