Intuitive Machines’ confirmed its lunar lander, Athena, touched down on the Moon at approximately 11:30 a.m. CST on Thursday. The company’s IM-2 mission is part of NASA’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative. A post-landing news conference will take place at 4 p.m. EST from NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. Watch live on NASA+. [...]
3 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) As NASA continues to enable a sustainable, cost-effective commercial space economy, the agency is seeking partnership proposals for the operations, sustaining engineering, and utilization of Astrobee, a free-flying robotic system aboard the International Space Station. The Announcement for Partnership Proposal contains instructions and criteria [...]
At Redshift Wrangler, anyone with a smartphone or laptop can help clock the expansion of the universe using light from distant galaxies. Sadie Coffin A “classification” is when a volunteer or citizen scientist finishes marking up or sorting one image or other piece of data. Each classification done by volunteers for the Redshift Wrangler [...]
The IM-2 lander is beginning its vertical descent where the lander’s Guidance and Navigation Control system flies the lander to a point approximately 98 feet (30 meters) above the designated landing site. Then the lander goes into a vertical descent at about 10 feet-per-second (3-meters-per-second). After that, the lander brakes to a 3-feet-per-second (1-meter-per-second) descent rate [...]
The final burn of Intuitive Machines’ IM-2 lunar lander has begun. Powered descent initiation is a main engine firing that will take about 12 minutes. It’s designed to slow the lander’s speed in preparation for final descent moments before touchdown. During this phase, the lander must slow down by about 4,000 miles per hour [...]
7 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) NASA / Maria Werries The ARMD 2024 Associate Administrator Awards were presented to NASA employees, contractors, and students or interns who distinguished themselves, either individually or as part of a group, through their overall approach to their work and through results they achieved during [...]
After launching Feb. 26 from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Intuitive Machines’ lander is preparing to land on the Moon at 11:30 a.m. CST at Mons Mouton near the Moon’s South Pole. Watch now on NASA+ or the agency’s website. Aboard the mission are a suite of NASA technology and science payloads on their way [...]
After successfully completing descent orbit insertion at 4:33 a.m. CST Thursday, Intuitive Machines flight controllers are gathering data and checking the lander’s landing systems for accuracy ahead of landing on the lunar surface for its IM-2 mission. The updated landing time is 11:30 a.m. CST. As part of NASA’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative [...]
1 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) NASA GRX-810 Licensing Team, GRC * Denotes Team Lead NASA Ames Research Center John Lawson NASA Glenn Research Center Steven M. Arnold Aaron B. Brister Robert W. Carter Robert H. Earp Timothy P. Gabb Christopher J. Giuffre Paul R. Gradl Jason M. Hanna Bryan [...]
1 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) eVTOL Propulsion Team, GRC * Denotes Team Lead NASA Glenn Research Center Aaron D. Anderson Devin K. Boyle Jeffryes W. Chapman Peggy A. Cornell Timothy P. Dever Justin P. Elchert Henry B. Fain Xavier Collazo Fernandez Matthew G. Granger Jonathan M. Gutknecht Michael C. [...]
