Subscribe to the newsletter of Wonder’s Wonder Science. Explore the universe with news about wonderful discoveries, scientific progress and more.
Automatic land called Athens is preparing to make its final descending to the moon, which is likely to get the second moon to the American company this week.
Houston -based intuitive machines, which last year became the first private sector company in a soft car on the moon, said that the spacecraft in Athens is on the right road down at 11:32 am CT (12:32 pm EST) on Thursday.
The direct broadcast of the event, which NASA and intuitive machines, are scheduled to start an hour before the landing.
If you succeed, Athens will join the moon of Austin Suburs Cedar Park-on the surface of the moon. The Firefly’s Blue Ghost vehicle made a safe, straight, on Sunday morning.
The Machines IM-2 intuitive in the orbit of the moon in this image that was released on Monday. Intuitive machines
Athena and Blue Ghost are expected to operate on the nearby side of the moon, but the spacecraft will float about 2000 miles (3200 km), with the presence of Blue Ghost near the moon’s equator, Athens is near the Antarctic – closer to any astronaut or vehicle before.
Lunar landing is very difficult. About half of the attempts, including those written by government space agencies and commercial companies, ended in failure.
Athens will need to complete the burning of a engine that will put it on a path outside the moon’s orbit and towards the surface. It is expected that he will be chased by Lander for about an hour before his final descent will start and he will have to use sensors and cameras to navigate in the terrain filled with loads.
During its final descent, the car should take a speed quickly, which reduces its speed by about 4000 miles per hour (1800 meters per second) before it reaches the ground.
The southern pole of the moon is very important to the modern space race because scientists believe that it is home to vast warehouses of water ice. Ice can be converted into drinking water, breathing air, or even missile fuel for missions wandering in the universe.
Athens is scheduled to land on the plateau of 60 miles (100 km wide) called Mons Mouton It is located about 100 miles (160 km) from the lunar southern pole. Then, Lander will reach work.
Athens on the scout mission of some kind. The car will use a set of automatic equipment – including drilling, chain and ROVER – to avoid the nearby area to confirm the storage of water ice throughout the region.
Lander is expected to work for 10 days before Night Night in the dark, which makes the spacecraft unclear.
Redemption
Before the intuitive machines made the date last year when it was their first attacker, Odysseus – or “Odie” It was also called the startup of the startup – they achieved a smooth landing on the moon, which only exploded a handful of government space programs. The United States, China, India, Japan and the former Soviet Union were in this exclusive club.
But Audi’s trip, which was also ventured near the Antarctic region, was not perfect. Before landing, the mission teams found that Francefinder Laser is designed to help move in lunar terrain and measure height specifically was not properly militant.
This error forced the company to rely on a trial NASA, which it encountered on board, to obtain navigational support to reach the moon.
Ultimately, Odie stumbled on its side, leaving the valuable communications antennas and solar panels covered in unlimited directions. As a result, Odie was operated days before the scheme.
This image, which was recovered from the first player in the intuitive machines, Odysseus, embodies the landing pillar in February 2024. – Intuitive machines
Firefly briefly referred to the lost Audi direction during the direct coverage of the moon’s landing this week, declaring that its blue ghost land was the “first successful” commercial car to land on the moon.
However, companies have expressed support for each other.
“I will tell you something more exciting than any other time in history is the number of tasks that fly to the moon,” said Steve Altimos, CEO of CNN in February. “Two companies in Texas fly to the moon, which in theory will be on the surface at the same time, operating different tasks on the moon – this is incredible for the United States.”
Berry and intuitive machines are both contractors within the framework of the NASA lunar load services program. The CLPS program aims to motivate the private industry to develop a relatively cheap mechanical spacecraft that can explore the moon before NASA sends astronauts there later in this decade.
The ARTEMIS III mission in NASA aims to drop humans on the surface of the moon for the first time in more than five decades by mid -2017.
Athens’ mission on the moon
Hours of landing on Thursday, ATHENA Lander is expected to publish his Rover, which is called an independent mobile phone excavation platform, or MAPP, and built by Lunar Outpost, which is based in Colorado. The four -wheeled wheel vehicle will test (10 kg) new cellular communications equipment, and works to create a 3D map of the moon’s surface, and take pictures.
The car is also designed to collect a small soil sample. Although the sample – as well as the MAPP Rover – will remain on the surface of the moon indefinitely, NASA agreed to pay one dollar to take over the sample ownership. It is a symbolic step aimed at defining the first commercial sale of space resources ever.
Justin Cyrus, CEO of Lunar Outpost CNN, told NASA that the amount of NASA is the only government funding that the company will receive for this task.
“This is our first snapshot, and the fact that this is a commercial Rover for $ 1 from NASA … this is already like a very good place,” Cyrus said.
After MAPP is launched, ATHENA Lander will publish a mini -microcosa – or a spacecraft designed to jump away from the landing site and explore the moon hole to search for water. The intuitive machines developed this car with funding from NASA.
But the initial load on the ATHena is the NASA PRIME-1 training, which is designed to enter the moon, and it preserves water snow and soil analysis as it goes.
if Prime-1 The location of the water can be determined directly below the surface of the moon, it will be “very sexy”.
EGGL said: “If you find a few water -rich exercises (near) the surface, it will be the best scenario in a better condition, it is possible that the water will be extracted quickly, and it may be very quickly.”
For more CNN news and newsletters, create an account on Cnn.com
