NASA has confirmed the failure of the Athena mission on the Moon

The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announced the failure of the Athena spacecraft mission after the probe fell on its side onto the surface of the Moon. This was announced on March 7 on the NASA website.

"The mission has been completed, and the teams continue to evaluate the data collected during the mission," the department said.

It is claimed that the images received from the probe helped to confirm the unsuccessful landing. After studying them, the scientists came to the conclusion that the device had fallen and was lying on its side.

"Although this mission has not achieved all of its goals for NASA, the work that has been put into developing the payload is already informing other agencies. As we continue to develop new technologies to support exploration of the Moon and Mars, in—situ technology testing is critical for future missions," said Clayton Turner, Associate Administrator for Space Technology at NASA headquarters.

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It became known about the problems of the Athena space module during the moon landing. At the time, it was claimed that scientists were in contact with the module, but could not obtain data on the position in which it landed on the surface.