1d ago

Sadly, Athena toppled over on the moon. With a lunar eclipse coming shortly, why didn't they design in a secondary power source over solar?

Robotic private spacecraft touched down about 250 meters from its intended landing site on Thursday

Even if it landed correctly, why would they plan a solar powered mission to the moon when our next lunar eclipse is in like 5 days?

2d ago

Athena spacecraft declared dead after toppling over on moon

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2d ago

Athena spacecraft declared dead after toppling over on moon

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3d ago

Athena spacecraft declared dead after toppling over on moon

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26 comments

It's all about weight when going to space. It's one of the basic parts of rocket science. If you want to send 1 pound into space, you need to add gas to cover that weight, and the weight of the gas you add. Eventually you reach a point where the combined weight of the gas is more than the thrust it provides and you can't add more. Solar is light, a few hours of no power isn't a big deal over months or years of operation time, if you are confident things will come back on when there's light again.

What other power source? There is only solar and nuclear in space. And not even NASA does nuclear unless absolutely required for the mission.
- We have uranium in our tap water here. As long as it remains less that 43 parts per million, they consider it 'safe'. With hundreds of millions of dollars to throw around, it can't be all that difficult to filter enough uranium out for the energy for a two week mission.
  And it was a private spacecraft, not made by NASA (although it carried some of their sensors and equipment).
  
  You don't know how nuclear power works.

Chief O'Brien would be so disappointed. he wouldn't like to be caught without a secondary backup in a crunch.

26 comments