A privately owned lunar lander has touched down on the moon. But flight controllers in Texas cannot confirm its condition or whether it's even upright near the south pole. The last time Intuitive Machines landed a spacecraft on the moon, a year ago, it ended up sideways. The company's newest Athena lander dropped out of lunar orbit as planned Thursday, carrying an ice drill, a drone and two rovers for NASA and others. The descent appeared to go well. But it took a while for Mission Control to confirm touchdown. More than an hour after landing, the Houston company had yet to provide an update.
New research shows that when an asteroid slammed into the moon billions of years ago, it carved out a pair of grand canyons on the far side. That's good news for NASA, which is looking to land astronauts at the south pole on the near, Earth-facing side later this decade. Because the debris went elsewhere, the moon's south pole contains older rocks that could be collected by moonwalkers. The incoming object created an impact basin and sent streams of rocks hurtling like missiles. Within minutes, two canyons comparable in size to Arizona's Grand Canyon were formed.
Scientists have confirmed a cave on the moon, not far from where Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed 55 years ago. Researchers suspect there could be hundreds more caves and tunnels that could house future astronauts. An Italian-led team reported Monday that there's evidence for a sizable cave accessible from the deepest known pit on the moon. Located at the Sea of Tranquility, it was created by the collapse of a lava tube. The scientists analyzed radar measurements by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and compared the results with lava tubes on Earth.
