Comment on 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?

BradleyUffner@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

• over_clox@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  Being tipped over doesn’t inherently stop all of its equipment from working, I’m sure at least some of the sensors could otherwise still work, if they had power.

  Even if only 10% of the sensors and equipment could still work, 10% would still be better than 0%.

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  • BradleyUffner@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    True, but communication could still be a problem.

    Generally this kind of probe will have a highly directional antenna that has pretty strict limits on it’s aim. We would have to be very lucky for the antenna to not get damaged during the fall and end up in a position where it can still establish a connection. Even if all the science is fine, it’s as good as useless if it can’t communicate any results or accept commands.

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    • over_clox@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Ah, but it did send data back before the battery ran down, at least enough data to confirm it fell over when it landed.

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