Update: We have to correct the information below. Apparently the MiniPIX payload was moved to IM-3 mission, which is currently planned for late 2025 or early 2026. :) Fingers crossed for IM-2, however our time will come a bit later. 👍🚀 (🚀 The Intuitive Machines IM-2 mission to Moon is ready to launch today! Our MiniPIX detector is part of it, implemented to KHON-1 smallsat to collect the cislunar radiation data over a 5-year period. The mission is part of NASA's preparatuon for the Artemis program to the return us to the Moon.)
🚀 The IM-2 mission to explore our Moon is ready to launch – and it is carrying with it some high-tech scientific equipment associated with CERN🚀 ✅ The Puli Lunar Water Snooper (PLWS). This is a miniature neutron spectrometer developed by Puli Space Technologies and tested at CERN. The PLWS is mounted on a drone that will deploy off the mission’s lunar lander and hop multiple times across the Moon’s surface. The goal of the PLWS is to investigate the presence of water ice in the South Pole region of the Moon. ✅ The MiniPIX TPX3 SPACE payload. This miniature radiation camera – smaller than a pen ✒️ – is made by ADVACAM Cameras and features a Timepix3 detector, developed at CERN as part of the Medipix3 Collaboration. The MiniPIX TPX3 will monitor the radiation field on the lunar surface to help us understand how cosmic rays and other high-energy particles present there could affect equipment and people on future missions. Intuitive Machines’ #IM2 mission, named Athena, is set to lift off from NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Kennedy Space Center around midnight (CET time) tonight with the goal of finding out more about the moon and its resources. You can watch the launch live here: ➡️https://lnkd.in/ewqa-_R6 #Innovation #SpaceTech #SpaceExploration