BeechTalk - BT - Another Moon Landing, Early Sunday Morning …

Username Protected · **Posted:** 27 Feb 2025, 15:51

https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/02 ... s-weekend/

Username Protected · **Posted:** 27 Feb 2025, 17:07

I wish them luck!

Username Protected · **Posted:** 27 Feb 2025, 19:07

[FaceBookVideo][/FaceBookVideo]Intuitive Machines second lander Athena is also headed to the moon. Launched yesterday and ldg Mar 5 or so

Username Protected · **Posted:** 27 Feb 2025, 23:06

The article may have had the landing time, but I didn't easily see it: 2:34 a.m. CST

Coverage starts with a NASA livestream about 1:20 am CST

https://fireflyspace.com/missions/blue-ghost-mission-1/ sholud have the landing feed.

Username Protected · **Posted:** 02 Mar 2025, 09:55

They did it!

Username Protected · **Posted:** 06 Mar 2025, 16:19

Deja Vu all over again!

The Intuitive Machines IM-2 lander, Athena, is on the surface of the moon, but it's orientation is 'unknown'...... Appears like it may have tipped over like IM-1! :sad:

https://spacenews.com/im-2-lunar-lander ... s-unclear/

Username Protected · **Posted:** 06 Mar 2025, 20:32

We’re 1 for 3 this week. Well done Firefly Aerospace.

Username Protected · **Posted:** 06 Mar 2025, 20:50

All the more praise for Neil Armstrong's gutsy landing with seconds of propellant remaining.

Gene Kranz's book concept of "Failure is not an Option" seems to be out of vogue right now.

I suppose autonomous operations do simplify things, but JPL's moon lander was impressive too.

Username Protected · **Posted:** 07 Mar 2025, 08:00

"Failure is not an option" changed to "Failure is not a problem" sometime in or just prior to the STS program, largely, IMO due to pressure to continue manned spaceflight in a funding environment that didn't support it. It has not changed.

Username Protected · **Posted:** 07 Mar 2025, 08:05

I'm curious what it costs to get a 100lb lander onto the moon.

I know nothing about astro-geology, but I presume a 100lb lander would get you a reasonable amount of scientific processing/devices/tools.

does anyone know the costs?

Username Protected · **Posted:** 07 Mar 2025, 10:04

Username Protected wrote:

I'm curious what it costs to get a 100lb lander onto the moon.

I know nothing about astro-geology, but I presume a 100lb lander would get you a reasonable amount of scientific processing/devices/tools.

does anyone know the costs?

A 100 pound ‘lander’ would be the equivalent of a big rock. I don’t think you can come close to a soft landing on the moon with any thing that light.

By contrast, Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost, which landed as intended this week, had a mass at launch of 3,344 pounds. SpaceX charges $69.75M for a ride on a Falcon 9, so $69.75M to get something like that on its way. None of that accounts for the engineering and development costs, payroll, materials and construction, and infrastructure required. I have no idea what the total cost of a mission is, but obviously just to get the machine on the surface it would be hundreds of millions of dollars.

If, however, all you want is to hurl 100 pounds at the moon, and timing isn’t a big deal, you can probably hop on a SpaceX Rideshare flight for around $330,000. If your payload is simple, you might get the costs into the low millions.

Username Protected · **Posted:** 07 Mar 2025, 14:20

Username Protected wrote:

Images downlinked from Athena on the lunar surface confirmed that Athena was on her side. After landing, mission controllers were able to accelerate several program and payload milestones, including NASA’s PRIME-1 suite, before the lander’s batteries depleted.

With the direction of the sun, the orientation of the solar panels, and extreme cold temperatures in the crater, Intuitive Machines does not expect Athena to recharge. The mission has concluded and teams are continuing to assess the data collected throughout the mission.

Username Protected · **Posted:** 07 Mar 2025, 15:52

Shoulda had Boeing run that one.