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A lunar lander called Athena was ‘declared dead’ on Friday after landing sideways in a crater. It’s the second Intuitive Machines lander in two years to botch the touchdown.
“Landing on the Moon is like parking a speeding car in a sandstorm using just your accelerator,” says Southampton University’s Dr Minkwan Kim.
First, the lack of drag on the Moon means landers can’t rely on parachutes for a short final descent that requires them to slow down from thousands of miles per hour to a standstill.
Second, the south polar region where Athena was aiming to land is uncharted and bumpy, and low sun angles cast deep shadows that impede visibility.
The final ingredient: an IM lander is tall and fragile. If it lands on a slope, and its centre of gravity is outside its legs, it falls. If it moves sideways when it lands, it falls.
Athena fell.
