Tuesday, March 11, 2025

Photos of the Day: Orbital Images of Athena on the Lunar Surface...

A photo that NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter took of Intuitive Machines' Athena lander lying inside a small crater at the Mons Mouton region in the Moon's South Pole...on March 10, 2025 (at 14:52 UTC).
NASA / GSFC / Arizona State University

Just thought I'd share these images that NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter recently took of Intuitive Machines' Athena lander on the Moon's surface.

Athena, with Lunar Outpost's MAPP rover aboard, touched down at the Mons Mouton region in the Moon's South Pole on March 6...but Athena's mission (IM-2) was abruptly cut short after the spacecraft tipped over upon landing inside a small crater, preventing sunlight from recharging the craft's batteries.

The IM-2 mission didn't even last 24 hours on the lunar surface.

An unannotated version of the photo that NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter took of Intuitive Machines' Athena lander inside a small crater at the Mons Mouton region in the Moon's South Pole...on March 10, 2025 (at 14:52 UTC).
NASA / GSFC / Arizona State University

An earlier photo that NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter took of Intuitive Machines' Athena lander lying inside a small crater at the Mons Mouton region in the Moon's South Pole...on March 7, 2025.
NASA / GSFC / Arizona State University

A cropped version of the photo that NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter took of Intuitive Machines' Athena lander inside a small crater at the Mons Mouton region in the Moon's South Pole...on March 7, 2025.
NASA / GSFC / Arizona State University
Posted by Richard Par at 11:37 AM
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