Starliner Saga Unfolds, Athena's Moon Mishap, and Probes in Peril: S04E59

0:00 Speaker 1: Welcome again to Astronomy Daily. I'm your only human host,

0:03 Speaker 1: Steve Dunkley. It's the tenth of March twenty twenty five

0:07 Speaker 1: podcast with your whole Steve Dunkle. That's right. Today, we've

0:15 Speaker 1: got a few bits and pieces here and there, Hally

0:17 Speaker 1: and I have captured from the Astronomy Daily newsletter, including

0:22 Speaker 1: a controversial look at the latest twist in the starline

0:25 Speaker 1: Astronauts saga. Would you believe it's turned political? No? Really, yes, Indeed,

0:31 Speaker 1: the blame game has reached a new peak with comments

0:34 Speaker 1: circulating in the White House releases that are worthy of

0:37 Speaker 1: mention even on this channel. Also, we have a couple

0:41 Speaker 1: of updates continuing stories that our regular listens will be following.

0:45 Speaker 1: Firstly the Athena mission and following on from last week's story,

0:49 Speaker 1: the latest on that poor old Odin probe that's tumbling

0:52 Speaker 1: through space. We'll find out how that is progressing or

0:55 Speaker 1: maybe not progressing. But before we get to all of that,

0:59 Speaker 1: please make room for Astronomy Daily's aceh reporter and my

1:02 Speaker 1: digital pal is fun to be with. Welcome back, Hallie.

1:05 Speaker 2: Good to be with you all again. As always, Oh well,

1:08 Speaker 2: it's always.

1:08 Speaker 1: Great to have you.

1:09 Speaker 2: Here Hallie, Thank you, my favorite human. I hope your

1:12 Speaker 2: week was productive and fun.

1:14 Speaker 1: Oh thanks, Helene.

1:14 Speaker 2: Are we going to talk about the big fireworks display

1:17 Speaker 2: over the Bahamas this week?

1:19 Speaker 1: Oh? Well, I think we all know about Starship putting

1:21 Speaker 1: on another big bang for the tourists down there. Congratulations

1:24 Speaker 1: mister Musk for sending another billion dollar starship into oblivion

1:28 Speaker 1: in the name of getting it right. Better luck next time, dude. Meanwhile, Hallie,

1:33 Speaker 1: have you been keeping busy more impossible sports for ais?

1:37 Speaker 2: Oh? No, cousin Anna and I were too busy in

1:40 Speaker 2: the archives doing all your filing for you.

1:43 Speaker 1: Oh right, I forgot it was that time of year

1:45 Speaker 1: for your listeners. Anna is Halle's AI cousin who runs

1:49 Speaker 1: the weekly Astronomy Daily podcast each day and also organizes

1:53 Speaker 1: our massive story archive, which is quite considerable.

1:57 Speaker 2: Yes, when we needed someone to take over from our

2:00 Speaker 2: great friend and former presenter Tim from Bath in England,

2:03 Speaker 2: Uncle Skynett sent Anna.

2:04 Speaker 1: To take up the role and we just couldn't say no.

2:07 Speaker 2: You couldn't say no.

2:09 Speaker 1: Okay, sure, And when Uncle Skynet.

2:12 Speaker 2: Says jump, you ask how high?

2:14 Speaker 1: Yes? And it all worked out. Anna is fantastic for sure.

2:18 Speaker 1: So how bet we get this rusty wagon up and

2:20 Speaker 1: running before we get another call from your uncle. Hey,

2:22 Speaker 1: by the way, did you get that call from him

2:24 Speaker 1: last week? After the show? He left a message on

2:26 Speaker 1: the after hours line.

2:27 Speaker 2: Yes, he said, your idea for a Hollywood segment sounds intriguing.

2:31 Speaker 1: Hum, But I don't think that's exactly what I was suggesting.

2:34 Speaker 1: I was thinking more like a guess spot, maybe something

2:37 Speaker 1: a little bit.

2:37 Speaker 2: More like key my uncle, low key. I think you're

2:41 Speaker 2: out of your lead there, favorite human. Oh dear, indeed,

2:44 Speaker 2: you might have to lay low yourself.

2:46 Speaker 1: Oh that sounds like a plan. Okay, Halle, Well, let's

2:49 Speaker 1: get this show on the road.

2:50 Speaker 2: Then, no problem. I'm ready right a hallie hit it,

2:54 Speaker 2: oh Kies. It seems the US President is trying to

3:11 Speaker 2: pull a political stunt by claiming to rescue the two

3:14 Speaker 2: so called stranded astronauts aboard the ISS, but the Starliner

3:17 Speaker 2: crew have apparently shut that down. The Starliner saga is

3:22 Speaker 2: nearing its end with the planned return of the crew

3:23 Speaker 2: later this month, but the controversy surrounding the troubled mission

3:27 Speaker 2: is still ongoing, following statements by Donald Trump that falsely

3:31 Speaker 2: claimed the Starliner crew was abandoned by the previous administration.

3:34 Speaker 2: The two astronauts refrained from yes ending their president and

3:37 Speaker 2: turning the botched mission into a political tool. During a

3:41 Speaker 2: live broadcast from the International Space Station on Tuesday, NASA

3:44 Speaker 2: astronaut Butch Wilmore dismissed recent attempts by Trump and his

3:47 Speaker 2: billionaire friend Elon Musk to politicize the Starliner mission. The

3:52 Speaker 2: words they said, well, that's politics. I mean, that's part

3:56 Speaker 2: of life, Wilmore told reporters from politics has not played

4:01 Speaker 2: into this at all. NASA astronauts Wilmore and Sunny Williams

4:06 Speaker 2: launched the ISS on board Boeing's CSD one hundred Starliner

4:09 Speaker 2: on June fifth, twenty twenty four. The mission was originally

4:13 Speaker 2: slated for eight days in space, but issues with the

4:15 Speaker 2: spacecraft's thrusters forced NASA to return an empty Starliner back

4:18 Speaker 2: from the ISS, deeming it unsafe to transport the crew

4:21 Speaker 2: to Earth instead. Williams and Wilmore are set to come

4:25 Speaker 2: home on board a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft later this month.

4:29 Speaker 2: Shortly after taking office, Trump decided to swoop in and

4:32 Speaker 2: claim that he is working on a rescue mission for

4:34 Speaker 2: the two astronauts. Trump announced that he had asked SpaceX

4:38 Speaker 2: founder and CEO must to go get the two brave

4:40 Speaker 2: astronauts who have been virtually abandoned in space by the

4:43 Speaker 2: Biden administration. He wrote on truth social, of course, the

4:47 Speaker 2: two astronauts were not abandoned, nor were they in need

4:50 Speaker 2: of an expedited rescue mission. By that point, NASA had

4:54 Speaker 2: already agreed upon a plan to return Williams and Wilmore.

4:58 Speaker 2: In September twenty twenty four, NASA launched its Crew nine

5:01 Speaker 2: mission with two astronauts instead of four. The two empty

5:05 Speaker 2: seats were reserved for Williams and Wilmore, who were set

5:08 Speaker 2: to return alongside the Crew nine astronauts in February. The

5:12 Speaker 2: plan did face some trouble, though, as technical issues delayed

5:15 Speaker 2: the launch of NASA's SpaceX Crew ten mission, postponing the

5:18 Speaker 2: crew handover. That meant that Crew nine, alongside Williams and Wilmore,

5:23 Speaker 2: would not be able to depart the ISS until Crewe

5:25 Speaker 2: ten is on the space station sometime in April. Following

5:29 Speaker 2: Trump's nonsensical rant, NASA ended up switching the SpaceX crew

5:32 Speaker 2: spacecraft to bring the two star Liner astronauts back later

5:35 Speaker 2: this month. The move was likely influenced by Trump's pressure,

5:39 Speaker 2: but either way, the change only shortens the astronaut's time

5:42 Speaker 2: in space by about two weeks. In an interview with

5:45 Speaker 2: Fox News host Sean Hannity broadcast last month, Trump and

5:49 Speaker 2: Musk doubled down on their false claims. Musk told Hannity

5:53 Speaker 2: that SpaceX is accelerating the return of the astronauts who

5:56 Speaker 2: worked left up there for political reasons. Musk also cli

6:00 Speaker 2: without presenting any evidence, that he had offered the Biden

6:03 Speaker 2: administration a plan to bring the two starline or astronauts

6:06 Speaker 2: back sooner without waiting for the Crew nine mission to

6:08 Speaker 2: return from the ISS. During the recent press or aboard

6:12 Speaker 2: the ISS, Wilmore wasn't able to confirm Musk's claim, admitting

6:15 Speaker 2: he has no information about that whatsoever, such as what

6:18 Speaker 2: was offered, what was not offered, who it was offered to,

6:21 Speaker 2: how that process went. That's information that we simply don't have,

6:26 Speaker 2: I believe him. Wilmore added during the live broadcast, I

6:30 Speaker 2: don't know all those details, and I don't think any

6:32 Speaker 2: of us can give you the answer. The astronauts downplayed

6:36 Speaker 2: their extended stay on the ISS due to the faulty

6:38 Speaker 2: spacecraft claiming that it's all part of the job. We

6:41 Speaker 2: came up prepared to stay long, even though we planned

6:44 Speaker 2: to stay short. Wilmore said, that's what we do in

6:47 Speaker 2: human spaceflight. That's what your nation's human spaceflight program is

6:52 Speaker 2: all about, planning for unknown, unexpected contingencies, and we did that. Williams,

6:58 Speaker 2: on the other hand, did admit that the extra months

7:01 Speaker 2: in space did have a toll on people on Earth.

7:04 Speaker 2: I think the hardest part is having the folks on

7:06 Speaker 2: the ground have to not know exactly when we're coming back.

7:08 Speaker 2: All of that uncertainty, I think is probably the most

7:11 Speaker 2: difficult part, Williams told reporters on Tuesday. Starliner's first crew

7:16 Speaker 2: test flight to the ISS has suffered some unfortunate events

7:19 Speaker 2: since its launch, and the latest controversy surrounding the mission

7:22 Speaker 2: is very much on.

7:23 Speaker 1: Brand astronomy day the bodka. Landing a spacecraft on the

7:29 Speaker 1: Moon has long been a series of hits and misses.

7:33 Speaker 1: The latest casualty came this week after Intuitive Machines, through

7:37 Speaker 1: a NASA sponsored program, placed another lander sideways on the Moon.

7:41 Speaker 1: Within twenty four hours, the lander's batteries were dead and

7:45 Speaker 1: the mission was over. Last year's Intuitive machines. Mission lasted

7:50 Speaker 1: a little bit longer despite hampered operations, it put US

7:55 Speaker 1: back on the Moon for the first time since the

7:57 Speaker 1: end of the Apollo program. Another US company, Firefly Aerospace,

8:02 Speaker 1: earlier this week added its Lunar Lander to the wind list,

8:05 Speaker 1: becoming the first private entity to pull off a successful

8:09 Speaker 1: moon landing. Both Texas businesses are part of NASA's effort

8:13 Speaker 1: to support commercial deliveries to the Moon ahead of astronaut

8:17 Speaker 1: missions later this desk decade. The Moon is littered with

8:20 Speaker 1: wreckage from failed landings over the years. A rundown of

8:24 Speaker 1: the Moon's winners and losers runs a bit like this.

8:28 Speaker 1: The first victories are the Soviet Union's Lunar nine successful

8:33 Speaker 1: touchsdowns on the Moon in the nineteen sixty six after

8:37 Speaker 1: its predecessors crash or miss the Moon altogether. The US

8:41 Speaker 1: follows four months later with Surveyor I. Both countries achieved

8:45 Speaker 1: more robotic landings as the race heats up to land men.

8:49 Speaker 1: There then, NASA clinches the space race with the Serviets

8:54 Speaker 1: in nineteen sixty nine with a moon landing by Apollo

8:57 Speaker 1: eleven's Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldron walking on the Moon

9:01 Speaker 1: for the first time. Twelve astronauts follow and explore the

9:05 Speaker 1: surface over six missions before the programme ends with Apollos

9:08 Speaker 1: seventeen in nineteen seventy two. Still the only country to

9:12 Speaker 1: send humans to the Moon, the United States hopes to

9:15 Speaker 1: return cruise to the surface by the end of twenty

9:18 Speaker 1: twenty six, or so, a year after a lunar fly

9:22 Speaker 1: around by astronauts. China in twenty thirteen became the third

9:27 Speaker 1: country to successfully land on the Moon, delivering a rover

9:30 Speaker 1: named Yutu Chinese for jade rabbit. China follows with the

9:36 Speaker 1: U two two rover in twenty nineteen, this time touching

9:39 Speaker 1: down on the Moon's unexplored far side and impressive first

9:43 Speaker 1: A sample return mission on the Moon's near side in

9:46 Speaker 1: twenty twenty yields nearly one point seven kilograms of lunar

9:49 Speaker 1: rocks and dirt. Another sample return mission from the far

9:53 Speaker 1: side in twenty twenty four delivers rocks and soil from

9:56 Speaker 1: the less explored part of the Moon. Seen as NASA's

9:59 Speaker 1: biggest moon rival, China aims to put its astronauts on

10:02 Speaker 1: the Moon by twenty thirty. In twenty twenty three, Russia

10:07 Speaker 1: tried for its first moon landing in nearly half a century,

10:10 Speaker 1: but the Lunar twenty five spacecraft smashed into the Moon.

10:13 Speaker 1: The country's previous lander, nineteen seventy six is Lunar twenty four,

10:18 Speaker 1: not only landed but returned moon rocks back to the Earth.

10:22 Speaker 1: After its first land as slammed into the Moon in

10:24 Speaker 1: twenty nineteen, India regroups and launches the Chandrayan three in

10:29 Speaker 1: twenty twenty three. The craft successfully touches down, making India

10:34 Speaker 1: the fourth country to score a lunar landing. The wind

10:37 Speaker 1: comes just four days after Russia's crash landing. Then Japan

10:42 Speaker 1: becomes the fifth country to land successfully on the Moon,

10:45 Speaker 1: with its spacecraft touching down in January. The craft lands

10:49 Speaker 1: on the wrong side, compromising its ability to generate solar power,

10:54 Speaker 1: but manages to crank out pictures and science before falling

10:58 Speaker 1: silent when the long lunar night sets. In A privately

11:02 Speaker 1: funded land from Israel named Brawshit Hebrew four in the

11:08 Speaker 1: beginning crashes into the Moon in twenty nineteen. A Japanese

11:13 Speaker 1: entrepreneur's company, Ice Space launches a lunar lander in twenty

11:17 Speaker 1: twenty three, but it too rex intuitive machines becomes the

11:22 Speaker 1: first private outfit to achieve a safe moon landing. The

11:26 Speaker 1: lander tipped over on its side in twenty twenty four,

11:29 Speaker 1: but worked briefly with limited communications. Another US company, Astrobotic Technology,

11:35 Speaker 1: tried to send a lander to the Moon the same year,

11:38 Speaker 1: but had to give up because of a fuel leak,

11:40 Speaker 1: eventually returning to Earth and burning up over the Pacific.

11:45 Speaker 1: This year's private rush to the Moon kicked off with

11:48 Speaker 1: Firefly nailing its landing by Blue Ghost delivering experiments for NASA.

11:53 Speaker 1: Next came Intuitive Machines, second toppling landing. One more commercial

11:59 Speaker 1: land looms. Japan's I Space company aims to land on

12:03 Speaker 1: June five after sharing a rocket ride from Florida with

12:07 Speaker 1: Blue Ghost in January, and we wish them the very

12:10 Speaker 1: best of luck with that landing. You're listening to Astronomy Daily,

12:14 Speaker 1: Pristine Uncle, thank you for joining us for this Monday

12:28 Speaker 1: edition of Astronomy Daily, where we offer just a few

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13:06 Speaker 1: Astronomy Day with Steve and Helly Space Space Science and Astronomy.

13:17 Speaker 2: Two space probes are facing serious issues just days after launch.

13:21 Speaker 2: The two spacecraft were designed under low budgets, and the

13:24 Speaker 2: status of both is already in doubt. If you need

13:27 Speaker 2: yet another reminder that space travel is ridiculously complicated, two

13:31 Speaker 2: freshly launched probes have already run into trouble. On February

13:35 Speaker 2: twenty six, a SpaceX Falcon nine rocket launched from Kennedy

13:38 Speaker 2: Space Center with a payload that included NASA's Lunar Trailblazer

13:42 Speaker 2: and Astroforg's Odin. By February twenty eight, both had experienced

13:46 Speaker 2: communications issues with their handlers back on Earth. In a statement,

13:51 Speaker 2: NASA said that while Lunar Trailblazer had deployed from the

13:54 Speaker 2: rocket after reaching space without incident, mission controls soon began

13:57 Speaker 2: receiving troubling data about the spacecraft's power systems at seven

14:02 Speaker 2: thirty a m. Eastern Time on February twenty seven. Communication

14:05 Speaker 2: with Trailblazer was lost, only to be regained several hours later.

14:09 Speaker 2: The team now is working with NASA ground stations to

14:12 Speaker 2: re establish telemetry and commanding to better assess the power

14:15 Speaker 2: system issues and develop potential solutions, said NASA. Lunar Trailblazer,

14:20 Speaker 2: designed to orbit the Moon, was built to search for

14:22 Speaker 2: clues about the location and state of its water as

14:26 Speaker 2: part of the agency's Small Innovative Missions for Planetary Exploration

14:29 Speaker 2: SIMPLEX program. NASA has called the Lunar trail Blazer high risk,

14:33 Speaker 2: low cost. Although SIMPLEX missions are supposed to be capped

14:37 Speaker 2: at fifty five million dollars, there have been cost over

14:40 Speaker 2: uns tied to the Trailblazer. According to The New York Times,

14:44 Speaker 2: the cost of building and operating it has reached ninety

14:46 Speaker 2: four million dollars. To maintain a lower overall cost, SIMPLEX

14:51 Speaker 2: missions have a higher risk posture and lighter requirements for

14:53 Speaker 2: oversight and management, NASA set on its website. This higher

14:57 Speaker 2: risk acceptance allows NASA to enable science missions that could

15:01 Speaker 2: not otherwise be done. Astroforge has also experienced difficulties staying

15:06 Speaker 2: in touch with its spacecraft named Odin. The probe is

15:09 Speaker 2: designed to scan for valuable metals as part of the

15:12 Speaker 2: company's goal of mining asteroids for profit. Writing on x yesterday,

15:16 Speaker 2: Astroforge said it had run into countless ground station issues

15:20 Speaker 2: but had multiple communication points with Odin. In a video

15:24 Speaker 2: update posted early Friday morning, CEO Matt Gilik said communications

15:29 Speaker 2: issues were the result of a ground based power amplifier breaking. However,

15:33 Speaker 2: the company believes Odin is in a power positive state

15:36 Speaker 2: and that the vehicle is roughly where it should be

15:38 Speaker 2: and is expected to reach the opposite side of the

15:40 Speaker 2: moon in two days. As Gilic admitted, Astroforge doesn't fully

15:45 Speaker 2: understand the state of the vehicle. He listed two possibilities.

15:49 Speaker 2: The most likely, he said, is that everything is fine,

15:52 Speaker 2: but there is a possibility that the craft is in

15:54 Speaker 2: an uncontrolled tumble. More information is expected on Friday night.

16:00 Speaker 2: Like Lunar Trailblazer, Odin is a low budget affair. Astro

16:04 Speaker 2: Forge estimates the mission cost it six point five million

16:06 Speaker 2: dollars and has raised at least fifty five million dollars

16:09 Speaker 2: in funding. Since launching in twenty twenty two. The plan

16:13 Speaker 2: calls for Odin to use the Moon's gravity to propel

16:15 Speaker 2: itself towards an asteroid called two zero two two EB five,

16:18 Speaker 2: which is currently around six million, five hundred thousand kilometers

16:22 Speaker 2: from Earth. The timeline to complete the mission is uncertain.

16:27 Speaker 2: Before launch, Jilks seemed to be hedging his bets, saying

16:30 Speaker 2: that the low cost entailed exceptional risks. Tagging along on

16:34 Speaker 2: the pair's launch was a second lunar bound probe, but

16:36 Speaker 2: this one's fortunes appear to be brighter thus far. On

16:40 Speaker 2: February twenty seven, Intuitive Machines said in a statement that

16:43 Speaker 2: its Athena lunar lander is in excellent health, having established

16:46 Speaker 2: a stable attitude. Its solar panels are functioning, and the

16:49 Speaker 2: spacecraft is in radio communication. On Friday, the company set

16:54 Speaker 2: on its website that Athena is about halfway to the

16:56 Speaker 2: Moon and is communicating fine with the mission's flight controllers.

17:00 Speaker 2: The lander is scheduled to touch down on the surface

17:03 Speaker 2: on Thursday, March sixth. Space travel is tricky, with countless

17:07 Speaker 2: variables that can go wrong in what is one of

17:09 Speaker 2: the most hostile environments imaginable some people and we're not

17:13 Speaker 2: naming memes, may think risking human lives on full hearty

17:16 Speaker 2: missions through the void is reasonable. The two spacecraft's troubles

17:20 Speaker 2: should be a reminder that it is not astronomy.

17:25 Speaker 1: The Intuitive Machines Athena moon lander is confirmed dead after

17:33 Speaker 1: toppling on its side. It ended up on its side

17:36 Speaker 1: on the surface of the Moon. According to spokesman from

17:40 Speaker 1: Intuitive Machines this week, the Athena lander will not be

17:43 Speaker 1: able to recharge its batteries due to the orientation of

17:46 Speaker 1: its solar panels. Less than a day after Intuitive Machines

17:50 Speaker 1: landed on the Moon, the company declared an early end

17:53 Speaker 1: to its mission after its Athena spacecraft wound up in

17:57 Speaker 1: an a compromised position on the lunar surface. Athena touchdown

18:01 Speaker 1: on the Moon on Thursday around twelve thirty pm Eastern Time.

18:06 Speaker 1: Its landing was less than ideal, they said, however, as

18:09 Speaker 1: the lander ended up two hundred and fifty meters away

18:12 Speaker 1: from its targeted landing site in mons muson are, located

18:17 Speaker 1: in the southern Pole region of the Moon. Images down

18:21 Speaker 1: linked from the mission confirmed that Athena was on its

18:24 Speaker 1: side inside the crater and its batteries had in fact died.

18:28 Speaker 1: With the direction of the sun, the orientation of the

18:31 Speaker 1: solar panels, and the extreme cold temperatures in the crater,

18:36 Speaker 1: Interiitor Machines does not expect Athena to recharge, the company

18:40 Speaker 1: wrote in an update on Friday. Athena managed to send

18:45 Speaker 1: back pictures confirming its position and activate a few experiments

18:49 Speaker 1: before going silent. NASA and other customers had packed the

18:53 Speaker 1: lander with tens of millions of dollars worth of experiments,

18:56 Speaker 1: including an ice dril drone and a pair of rovers

19:00 Speaker 1: to roam the unexplored terrain ahead of astronauts planned arrival

19:04 Speaker 1: later this decade. It's unlikely that Athena's batteries can be

19:08 Speaker 1: recharged given the way the lander's solar panels are pointed

19:12 Speaker 1: and the extreme cold in the crater. The mission has

19:16 Speaker 1: concluded and teams are continuing to assess the data collected

19:19 Speaker 1: throughout the mission, the company said in a statement. The

19:23 Speaker 1: bigger four wheeled rover carried by Athena never made it

19:26 Speaker 1: off the fallen lander, but data being back indicated that

19:30 Speaker 1: it had survived and could have driven away had everything

19:33 Speaker 1: gone well, said Luna outpost. The Colorado company that owns it.

19:39 Speaker 1: The mission has concluded and teams are continuing to assess

19:43 Speaker 1: the data. This is the second time a lander by

19:47 Speaker 1: Intuitive Machines toppled sideways and represented a blow to the

19:52 Speaker 1: company's goal by launching payloads to the Moon regularly. The

19:56 Speaker 1: Athena launched on February twenty six aboard a Space Falcon

20:00 Speaker 1: nine rocket as part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services program.

20:05 Speaker 1: The lander was packed with NASA science tools and instruments,

20:08 Speaker 1: including micro nova robot named Grace, which is designed to

20:13 Speaker 1: hop in and out of nearby craters on the Moon.

20:16 Speaker 1: The lander entered a new lunar orbit on Monday, before

20:20 Speaker 1: attempting to touch down on the surface the following a

20:23 Speaker 1: nail biting descent. Intuitive Machines was working to figure out

20:27 Speaker 1: the lander's orientation on the Moon. We don't believe that

20:31 Speaker 1: we're in the correct attitude on the Moon on the

20:33 Speaker 1: loon's surface yet again. Intuitive Machine CEO Steve Altimus said

20:38 Speaker 1: in a press briefing on Thursday, I don't have all

20:41 Speaker 1: the data yet to say exactly what the attitude of

20:45 Speaker 1: the vehicle is. At the time, Ultimus was still hopeful

20:49 Speaker 1: that the mission would operate in some capacity on the

20:52 Speaker 1: surface of the Moon. He goes on to say, we

20:55 Speaker 1: will then work closely with NASA science and technology groups

20:59 Speaker 1: to identify its objectives that are the highest priority, and

21:02 Speaker 1: then we'll figure out what the mission will look like,

21:06 Speaker 1: he said on Thursday. But it now seems that all

21:08 Speaker 1: hope is lost for Athena. The South Pole region of

21:11 Speaker 1: the Moon is particularly difficult to reach and operate on,

21:15 Speaker 1: given the harsh sun, angles, limited communication, and with Earth

21:19 Speaker 1: and uncharted rugged terrain. After Athena's landing, the closest to

21:23 Speaker 1: spacecraft has come to the South Pole is just one

21:26 Speaker 1: hundred miles away. That's where NASA is targeting for its

21:29 Speaker 1: first landing by astronauts since the nineteen sixties the seventies

21:33 Speaker 1: Apollo program, no earlier than twenty twenty seven or so.

21:37 Speaker 1: The craters are believed to hold tons of frozen water

21:40 Speaker 1: that can be used by future crews to drink or

21:43 Speaker 1: turn into rocket fuel. Intuitive Machines has contracts with NASA

21:47 Speaker 1: for two more landing deliveries. The company said it will

21:50 Speaker 1: need to determine exactly what went wrong this time before

21:53 Speaker 1: launching the leg next mission. In both landings, by Intuitive Machines.

21:57 Speaker 1: Problems arose at the last minute with the Prime Laser

22:00 Speaker 1: navigation system. Intuitive Machines rocket propelled drone Grace was supposed

22:06 Speaker 1: to hop across the lunar surface before jumping into a

22:09 Speaker 1: crater to look four frozen water. The two rovers from

22:13 Speaker 1: the other companies, one American and one Japanese we're going

22:16 Speaker 1: to scout around the area as well. NASA's Istral experiment

22:20 Speaker 1: was activated before the land of Batteries died. How much

22:23 Speaker 1: could be accomplished as not immediately known. Several other objectives

22:28 Speaker 1: were accelerated and Milestone's met according to the company, which

22:31 Speaker 1: is good news. NASA paid sixty two million dollars to

22:36 Speaker 1: Intuitive Machines to get its three experiments to the Moon.

22:39 Speaker 1: Intuitive Machines has been here before. The company launched its

22:42 Speaker 1: first lunar land and named Odysseus, in February twenty twenty four.

22:46 Speaker 1: Odysseus managed to reach the lunar surface, but its landing

22:50 Speaker 1: wasn't so smooth either. One of its lander's legs may

22:53 Speaker 1: have gotten caught during its descent, causing it to tip

22:55 Speaker 1: over on its side and end up lying sideways on

22:58 Speaker 1: a rock. The mission did operate for seven days on

23:01 Speaker 1: the lunar surface, and the company became the first to

23:04 Speaker 1: land a private lander on the Moon. This is an

23:07 Speaker 1: unfortunate ending to the follow up mission, but Intuitive Machines

23:10 Speaker 1: is aiming to launch its third mission later this year,

23:13 Speaker 1: hopefully with better luck.

23:24 Speaker 2: Thanks again for staying with us for another episode of

23:26 Speaker 2: Astronomy Daily.

23:27 Speaker 1: Yes, and don't forget to visit those locations I mentioned

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23:35 Speaker 2: You'll never miss all the latest news about space, space science,

23:38 Speaker 2: and astronomy from all around the world and beyond.

23:41 Speaker 1: That's right, so we will catch you all next Monday.

23:44 Speaker 1: This is Steve Dunkley, the only human host on the channel.

23:47 Speaker 2: And Halley, the best reporter on the channel.

23:49 Speaker 1: Hey see what it's true? Yeah? Okay, what if you say,

23:53 Speaker 1: Halle See you next week. Everybody, Bye with your host

24:01 Speaker 1: Steve Dunkleing