Watch Intuitive Machines land private Athena probe at the lunar south pole today
观看Intuitive Machines公司今日在月球南极着陆私营Athena探测器。
Houston-based company Intuitive Machines is poised to land its second spacecraft on the moon today (March 6). The lander, a Nova-C vehicle named Athena, is flying the IM-2 mission as a part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program, which contracts private companies to deliver agency science and technology payloads to the lunar surface. Now, the world will see if Intuitive Machines will deliver on that contract.
总部位于休斯顿的Intuitive Machines公司计划于今日（3月6日）将其第二艘航天器送上月球。此次登陆器是一艘名为Athena的Nova-C飞行器，执行IM-2任务，作为NASA商业月球有效载荷服务（CLPS）计划的一部分。该计划通过合同委托私营公司向月球表面运送NASA的科学与技术载荷。如今，全球将见证Intuitive Machines公司能否成功履行这一合同。
The company is targeting Thursday, March 6, at 12:32 p.m. EST (1732 GMT) for Athena's soft touchdown on the lunar surface, with coverage available from multiple sources. The landing will be streamed live on the Space.com homepage, NASA's NASA+ streaming service and on the Intuitive Machines YouTube channel. Coverage will begin at 11:30 a.m. EST (1630 GMT).
该公司计划于美国东部时间3月6日星期四12:32（格林尼治时间17:32）让Athena探测器在月球表面实现软着陆，多个渠道将提供相关报道。此次着陆将在Space.com主页、NASA的NASA+流媒体服务以及Intuitive Machines的YouTube频道进行直播。报道将于美国东部时间11:30（格林尼治时间16:30）开始。
The $62.5 million IM-2 mission launched Feb. 26 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. After a journey spanning about 4.5 days, Athena arrived in lunar orbit Monday (March 3), where the spacecraft and Intuitive Machines operators in mission control have continued preparing the lander for its descent to the surface.
耗资6250万美元的IM-2任务于2月26日由SpaceX猎鹰9号火箭在佛罗里达州NASA肯尼迪航天中心发射。经过约4.5天的飞行，Athena探测器于3月3日（星期一）进入月球轨道。此后，航天器与Intuitive Machines任务控制中心的操作团队一直在为其下降至月球表面做准备。
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Mission planners had prepared the lander to perform course-correction burns after reaching the moon, but Athena's lunar orbit insertion was accurate enough not to need them, according to Intuitive Machines.
据Intuitive Machines公司称，任务规划人员原本准备在着陆器抵达月球后进行轨道修正点火，但Athena的月球轨道插入精度足够高，无需进行修正。
"Flight controllers confirmed that Athena completed lunar orbit insertion with enough accuracy to forego the IM-2 mission's optional lunar correction maneuver," the company said in a post on X. "Athena’s next planned maneuver is Descent Orbit Insertion (DOI), which is designed to lower her orbit to make a landing attempt at 11:32 [CST; 12:32 p.m. EST on March 6."
该公司在X平台的帖子中表示：“飞行控制人员确认，Athena已精确完成月球轨道插入，无需执行IM-2任务可选的月球修正机动。Athena的下一步计划机动是下降轨道插入（DOI），旨在降低轨道，以便在3月6日美国中部时间11:32（美国东部时间12:32）尝试着陆。”
When the time comes, Athena will have a complex dance to fly along its path to landing. From the far side of the moon, outside of regular communications range, the lander will perform a descent trajectory burn to shrink its orbit and put it on a flight path toward its landing site. At this point, Athena will fly autonomously through to its landing, utilizing onboard imaging systems and sensors to analyze the terrain below and make navigational determinations.
届时，Athena将执行一系列复杂的飞行操作，以实现精准着陆。从月球背面开始，超出常规通信范围后，着陆器将进行下降轨迹点火，以缩小轨道并调整至通往着陆点的飞行路径。在这一阶段，Athena将完全自主飞行，依靠机载成像系统和传感器分析下方地形，并自主进行导航决策，以确保安全着陆。
Once within range, Athena will begin a breaking maneuver called Powered Descent Initiation (PDI), firing up and throttling its landing engine until the spacecraft reaches about a mile away from its touchdown coordinates in Mons Mouton. Following PDI, the lander will flip upright using its main engine to begin a hazard detection and avoidance phase in order to ascertain a precise suitable landing spot.
一旦进入射程，Athena将启动减速机动，即动力下降启动（PDI），点燃并调节其着陆发动机的推力，直到航天器接近着陆坐标——蒙斯·穆顿（Mons Mouton）约一英里范围内。在完成PDI后，着陆器将利用主发动机调整至直立姿态，并进入危险探测与规避阶段，以确定一个精确且合适的着陆点。
Athena will then enter its vertical and then terminal descent phases, respectively, to slow its fall from about 10 feet (3 meters) per second to about 3 feet (1 m) per second once it reaches approximately 30 feet (9 m) from the surface. For the terminal phase, the lander switches to internal guidance only — no onboard cameras — and descends the final few feet to touch down on the surface.
然后，Athena将分别进入垂直下降阶段和最终下降阶段。当航天器接近月球表面约30英尺（9米）时，它将把下降速度从每秒约10英尺（3米）减缓到每秒约3英尺（1米）。在最终阶段，着陆器将仅依赖内部导航系统——不使用机载摄像头——以完成最后几英尺的下降，最终安全着陆。
After landing, Intuitive Machines expects a 15-second confirmation period for mission controllers to complete final checkouts. If all goes according to plan, Athena will then begin its mission on the surface of the moon.
着陆后，Intuitive Machines预计会有一个15秒的确认期，期间任务控制人员将完成最后的检查。如果一切顺利，Athena将开始在月球表面的任务。
Athena is headed for Mons Mouton, a region near the moon's south pole. Scientists believe that water ice deposits and other resources can be found in surface samples that the lander will drill. NASA researchers are eager to study water and other elements available on the lunar surface as the space agency prepares to return astronauts there as part of the Artemis program.
Athena正前往月球南极附近的蒙斯·穆顿（Mons Mouton）地区。科学家们相信，通过着陆器钻探的表面样本中可以发现水冰沉积物和其他资源。随着NASA为阿尔忒弥斯计划准备将宇航员送回月球，研究人员迫切希望研究月球表面可用的水和其他元素。
Water ice and other "in-situ" resources can be converted to things like, well, water, for one, which is heavy and costly to launch all the way to the moon. Water can also be broken down into its constituent elements, hydrogen and oxygen, which can be used to make things like rocket fuel. Through CLPS missions like IM-2, NASA is hoping to better understand the lunar environment, and how best it can be utilized to sustain future astronauts.
水冰和其他“就地”资源可以转化为水等物质，而水是重且昂贵的物资，运输到月球的成本极高。此外，水还可以分解成其组成元素——氢和氧，这些可以用来制造火箭燃料。通过像IM-2这样的CLPS任务，NASA希望更好地理解月球环境，并探索如何利用这些资源来支持未来宇航员的生存。
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IM-2 will hunt for water ice and other resources present on and just below the lunar surface. Athena is delivering NASA's Polar Resources Ice Mining Experiment-1 (PRIME-1) to the moon, which consists of two main components: the Regolith Ice Drill for Exploring New Terrain (TRIDENT) and the Mass Spectrometer observing lunar operations (MSolo).
IM-2将寻找月球表面及其下方的水冰和其他资源。Athena将把NASA的极地资源冰矿采掘实验-1（PRIME-1）送上月球，PRIME-1由两个主要组件组成：新地形勘探用的月壤冰钻（TRIDENT）和观测月球操作的质谱仪（MSolo）。
TRIDENT will dig down into the surface, and MSolo will analyze the results. PRIME-1 will retrieve a sample from up to 3 feet (1 m) beneath the surface to hunt for frozen water, and the mass spectrometer onboard will test that sample to determine if the water ice is there.
三叉戟将深入地表，而MSolo将分析采集到的结果。PRIME-1将从月球表面下至3英尺（1米）深处采集样本，以寻找冰冻水，并通过机载质谱仪对样本进行测试，以确认是否存在水冰。
A secondary spacecraft called Grace, named for the pioneering computer scientist and mathematician Grace Hopper, will "hop" across the lunar surface within a 1-mile (1.6 kilometers) radius of Athena's landing site, and will explore the permanently shadowed section of a nearby crater. Athena also carries a mini-rover — the Mobile Autonomous Prospecting Platform (MAPP), built by Colorado company Lunar Outpost. These three robots will keep in touch using the moon's first-ever 4G/LTE network — another payload on IM-2, which was provided by Nokia Bell Labs.
第二艘名为Grace的辅助航天器将“跳跃”至Athena着陆点1英里（1.6公里）范围内的月球表面，并探索附近陨坑中常年处于阴影中的区域。Grace以开创性的计算机科学家和数学家Grace Hopper命名。Athena还携带了一辆迷你探测车——移动自主勘探平台（MAPP），由科罗拉多公司Lunar Outpost制造。这三台机器人将通过月球首个4G/LTE网络保持联络——这是IM-2任务的另一个有效载荷，由诺基亚贝尔实验室提供。
Another experiment on board Athena is the Laser Retro-Reflector Array (LRA) — a passive technology demonstration that doesn't require a power source or mechanical components. Eight mirrors affixed to Athena's exterior will test the reflection of lasers as a means of navigation reference for nearby and incoming spacecraft, similar to reflectors on an airport runway. The Athena lander will also release a smaller rover, called Yaoki, from the Japanese company Dymon.
Athena上还有另一个实验——激光反射器阵列（LRA），这是一项被动技术演示，不需要电源或机械组件。八面镜子将安装在Athena的外部，用于测试激光反射，作为附近和来访航天器的导航参考，类似于机场跑道上的反射器。Athena着陆器还将释放一辆由日本公司Dymon制造的小型探测车，名为Yaoki。
After landing, Athena and co. will operate on the lunar surface for about 10 days, until the lunar night falls on Mons Mouton and darkness overtakes the spacecraft. Before then, however, the lander will witness Earth overtake the sun for a solar eclipse on the lunar surface on March 14, at about 2 a.m. ET (0700 GMT). Then, once the lander's batteries are drained and the sun has set behind the lunar horizon, Athena's mission will end.
着陆后，Athena及其伴随设备将在月球表面操作约10天，直到月球夜降临蒙斯·穆顿，黑暗覆盖航天器。然而，在此之前，着陆器将目睹地球在3月14日约凌晨2点（美国东部时间，格林尼治时间0700）发生月球表面的日全食。随后，当着陆器的电池耗尽，太阳落入月球地平线之后，Athena的任务将宣告结束。
Intuitive Machines, though, has a lot more planned. The company has already been awarded further CLPS contracts from NASA, and is currently planning through to IM-4.
然而，Intuitive Machines公司还有更多计划。该公司已获得NASA的进一步CLPS合同，并正在规划IM-4任务。
