Lunar Outpost's MAAP rover render.
Lunar Outpost's MAAP rover render.
The Mobile Autonomous Prospecting Platform (MAPP) rover aboard the toppled Intuitive Machines Athena lunar lander survived the landing that took out its parent spacecraft and even managed to transmit some data from the moon's surface. Unfortunately, it was from within the Athena lander's payload bay. While the rover was functional while its power lasted, it wasn't able to exit the craft due to the orientation of the door, so it's now run out of power, ending its mission early.
The MAAP rover was supposed to be deployed by the Intuitive Machine's Athena lander after its touchdown on the moon on March 6. However, the IM-2 mission missed its landing spot by some 800 feet, landing in a crater it hadn't planned for and ending up on its side—despite IM claiming that wouldn't happen again. That meant that its solar panels couldn't be effectively deployed to receive power from the sun, so the spacecraft lost power completely within 24 hours.
Although some scientific data was retrieved from Athena after landing, the images sent back showed it had clearly toppled on its side and wouldn't be able to recharge its batteries, ending the mission much earlier than planned. This also prematurely ended the missions of the payloads it was carrying, including a Nokia 4G communications system, the Grace hopper craft that was planning to explore some of the nearby craters, and Athena's main mission: Looking for lunar water reserves for future moon missions.
Athena spacecraft landed on its side looking back at Earth.
Athena spacecraft landed on its side looking back at Earth.
Credit: Intuitive Machines
It also ended the hopes of the little MAAP rover. It was supposed to roll out into the Moon's South Pole crater to test the 4G system Nokia was setting up. It was also going to set a precedent for future space resource utilization in a symbolic sale of lunar regolith to NASA for $1, as per Space.com.
"Intuitive Machines landing on its side prevented MAPP's deployment," the statement from developer Lunar Outpost read. "Our data paints a clear picture that MAPP survived the landing attempt and would have driven on the lunar surface and achieved our mission objectives had it been given the opportunity."
Despite not being able to exit its transport vehicle, MAAP did transmit data to the Lunar Outpost on its way to the moon, during its descent, and even after landing. That data was useful for the developers, who plan to use it to inform their choices and decisions on future mission attempts. Lunar Outpost plans to launch a new rover on the Lunar Voyage 2 mission again, with Intuitive Machines providing transport later this year.