Scientists Struggle to Communicate With 2 Spacecraft Launched Wednesday

Yahoo

03-03-2025

Scientists are struggling to maintain contact with not one, but two spacecraft launched alongside a new commercial lunar lander on Wednesday. NASA's Lunar Trailblazer, which aims to map the Moon's water cycle, and AstroForge's Odin, which will analyze an asteroid's potential metal content, have both failed to transmit consistent data to their teams on the ground, leading to concerns about their respective missions.
Since day one, Lunar Trailblazer has had quite the journey ahead of it: The satellite's meandering yet fuel-efficient path toward lunar orbit is set to take four months. A few hours after the spacecraft's launch last week, NASA reported that Lunar Trailblazer had powered up as planned and successfully sent a radio signal to the agency's Deep Space Network Canberra complex in Australia. A day later, however, NASA shared that mission operators had lost communication with the spacecraft in the wee hours of morning.
Lunar Trailblazer had reportedly transmitted telemetry data indicating intermittent power system issues shortly before the communication disruption. Hours later, the spacecraft turned on its transmitter, allowing operators to begin reestablishing contact. They're now working to assess the satellite's self-reported power issues, according to NASA's latest statement.
Odin has traveled an even rockier road, and not because it's looking for asteroids. A day after launch, AstroForge, the "asteroid mining" firm behind the spacecraft, shared via X that it had experienced "countless ground station issues" but had communicated with Odin on several occasions. Early the following morning—roughly 36 hours after launch—the team noted in a video update that they had received carrier signals from Odin, but no telemetry. Still, they assumed the spacecraft was in a power-positive state and remained hopeful that the communication issues were on the ground, not with Odin itself.
Finally, in a written update published Saturday, AstroForge shared that a polarization issue with Odin's antenna prevented both uplink and downlink for the first four hours of the mission—a critical loss for any spacecraft, due to the system checks and critical maneuvers required during that window. It took the amateur satellite network AmSat accidentally stumbling upon Odin's signal to reestablish communication between AstroForge and its spacecraft. Still, the back-and-forth has been shaky, and AstroForge has been spending the last few days scrambling to reduce interference as Odin continues what is thought to be a "really slow, uncontrolled tumble" through space.
Both spacecraft launched from Kennedy Space Center via SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket on Feb. 26. They hitched a ride with Athena, a lunar lander from the Texas-based aerospace firm Intuitive Machines. As far as we know, Athena is the only spacecraft of the trio not to have experienced communication issues so far; in fact, it's beamed down some gorgeous snapshots of Earth ahead of its landing attempt on March 6.