Intuitive Machines IM-2 mission launch today at 7:16 pm ET for a March 6 landing near the lunar south pole.
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Status summary of these rideshare missions:
- Intuitive Machines IM-2: All good.
- NASA Lunar Trailblazer: Power system issues.
- AstroForge Odin: Comms unsuccessful. Next attempt Feb 27, 11 p.m. PST.
- EPIC AEROSPACE CHIMERA GEO 1: Downlink and spacecraft health good. No word on uplink yet.26/n
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Here is a timelapse video posted by Intuitive Machines composed from images taken by the IM-2 Athena spacecraft after separation.
"Athena used 4 super-wide field-of-view public affairs cameras to take pictures every minute for 30 minutes starting 100 seconds after separating from SpaceX’s second stage. Then, Athena took photos every 5 minutes for the next hour."
Athena is approx. halfway to the Moon and continues to communicate with flight controllers in Houston.
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Things are looking grim at AstroForge as hope is fading away with each passing hour.
2 short bursts of data were received from Odin yesterday, nothing since then. Data from the 2nd burst has not been delivered by DSN yet.
CEO Matt Gialich indicated moments ago in a briefing that the limited data they have indicates that the spacecraft is likely tumbling.
The livestream will be turned off soon, but they will continue to monitor and send commands over the weekend.
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Long post from AstroForge on the current status and the timeline of events for the Odin spacecraft.
Summary:
No contact yet.
Spacecraft likely tumbling.
Lots of issues with faulty configuration, ground station snafus, signal interference (the ground station in India is near a cell tower, really?).
Not been able to successfully get the command thru to turn on the power amp, the increasing distance making it more difficult.
Lots to learn from these mistakes. -
The Intuitive Machines IM-2 Athena spacecraft completed a 492-second main engine Lunar Orbit Insertion (LOI) burn at 7:27 a.m. EST on March 3 and is currently in a circular orbit around the Moon.
Athena will complete 39 lunar orbits before landing on March 6, around 12:32 p.m. EST when it will be lunar morning at the landing site near the South Pole.
Pl. see the rest of this thread for mission info.
No updates on AstroForge or Lunar Trailblazer
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Update on the NASA Lunar Trailblazer spacecraft:
- NASA has not successfully re-established comms. with the spacecraft.
- The team believes the spacecraft is spinning slowly in a low-power state, not getting sufficient sunlight to fully charge batteries.
- Scheduled trajectory correction maneuvers (TCMs) have been skipped.
- Alternative TCM strategies are being explored that could be used after reacquiring comms and establishing normal spacecraft functionality. -
As the Intuitive Machines Athena spacecraft prepares for landing tomorrow March 6, around 12:32 p.m. EST, it has been taking images of the lunar surface.
The image sequence from 0 seconds to 20 seconds is from a public affairs camera and is made up of 240 images taken over a mid-latitude region over a 10-minute span.
The image sequence starting at 20 seconds is over the Moon's south pole region near her intended landing site, Mons Mouton.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIJamsyvt0Q
https://www.intuitivemachines.com/im-2
32/n -
Link to the webcast for the landing of the Intuitive Machines Athena lunar lander today at 12:32 p.m. EST (17:32 UTC).
The NASA webcast will begin at 11:30 a.m. EST (16:30 UTC).
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Intuitive Machines reports that the Athena lunar lander completed its Descent Orbit Insertion maneuver at 5:33 a.m. EST (10:33 UTC).
Flight controllers are now gathering data and checking the lander’s landing systems for accuracy.
See graphic below for key events and milestones in the landing sequence.
The next two and half hours will be exciting and nail-biting.
https://www.intuitivemachines.com/im-2
34/n -
At G - 00:21:04, all is well with the Intuitive Machines Athena lunar lander as it closes in on touchdown time at 12:32 EST (17:32 UTC).
Altitude: 15.429 km
Speed: 6,080 km/hWebcast at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOPL8nhmQU4
45/n -
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