AFP USA

On one side of the border, US soldiers unfurled barbed wire. On the other, Mexican soldiers monitored a gap in the border wall. Both had the same objective: to curb irregular migration.Mexico and the United States have deployed thousands of troops to their 3,100-kilometer (1,900-mile) frontier since President Donald Trump returned to office in January, when he immediately declared a border “emergency.”The efforts appear to be paying off: the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) reported a 65-percent drop in migrant interceptions in January compared with the same month of 2024.”If before there were a hundred daily crossings, now there are no more than five. Yesterday there were none,” a Mexican National Guard officer told AFP during a patrol on the edge of the border city of Tijuana.The officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, attributed the fall to coordination between US and Mexican border patrols, including a WhatsApp chat in which they share data, photos and videos of their operations.Mexico has stepped up efforts to contain fentanyl trafficking and illegal migration to the United States, seeking to address two issues that Trump used to justify the 25-percent tariffs that he imposed on Mexican goods.After a call Thursday with Mexican counterpart Claudia Sheinbaum, Trump agreed to suspend most of the duties until April 2.The two countries were “working hard, together, on the Border, both in terms of stopping Illegal Aliens from entering the United States and, likewise, stopping Fentanyl,” he wrote on his Truth Social platform.- Military camp -Armed Mexican troops patrolled the steep slopes of an area on the edge of Tijuana known as Eagle’s Nest, a well-known crossing point for migrants who are often guided by traffickers.On the other side of the border, to the west, was the US city of San Diego, about 15 hours away on foot.Since February 20, about 30 soldiers have set up camp next to the border, on a hill surrounded by ramshackle homes, dirt roads, chicken coops and garbage.Due to the rocky terrain, there is no wall along this part of the border, making it a key crossing point, the National Guard officer said.Despite the increased military presence, some migrants still risk trying to cross, like a Pakistani couple intercepted on February 26 with a child in their arms.They were handed over to the Mexican immigration authority, after the National Guard had the CBP check whether the adults had criminal records.”From the wall here, they are ours; from the wall there, they are theirs,” the officer said about the demarcation of the border for intercepting migrants.Meanwhile, his troops filmed CBP helicopter overflights to share in the group chat.One of them has stuck a CBP patch on his helmet, a common gesture among law enforcement officers who exchange emblems as a symbol of friendship.On the US side of the fence, meanwhile, soldiers pushed a large roll of barbed wire uphill to use to reinforce the barrier, while others surveyed Mexican territory with binoculars.

President Donald Trump on Thursday renewed doubts over his commitment to the NATO alliance, saying countries that are not spending adequately on their militaries do not deserve defense.”If they don’t pay, I’m not going to defend them,” he told reporters in the Oval Office.Trump has frequently questioned whether the United States — by far the biggest military in the transatlantic alliance and ultimate guarantor of Europe’s security since World War II — should continue its central role in NATO.The Republican, who began his second term in January, doubled down on his criticism that some NATO members do not spend enough on their defense budgets and overly rely on the United States.”They should be paying more,” he said.Trump was responding to reporters after NBC News reported earlier Thursday that he is considering a plan to calibrate US military support in a way that favors member countries which spend a higher proportion of more of their GDP on defense.The president has previously called for allies to lift annual defense spending to five percent of GDP from the current two-percent target, which NATO expected only 23 of 32 members to meet last year.Countries deemed to be underspending might not be defended if attacked, according to the reported plan.The move would weaken NATO’s core Article 5 which stipulates that any member attacked will be defended by all the others.Trump also questioned whether allies, including France, would defend the United States.”If the United States was in trouble and we called them. We said, ‘We got a problem, France. We got a problem. A couple of others, I won’t mention. Do you think they’re gonna come and protect us? Hmm. They’re supposed to. I’m not so sure,” Trump said.French President Emmanuel Macron, however, said France was a “loyal and steadfast ally.””We have always been there for each other,” Macron told reporters in Brussels after a meeting of EU leaders, where they agreed to strengthen Europe’s defense.Macron said France had shown “respect and friendship” to the United States, and “we are entitled to ask for the same thing.”burs-sms/dc/raz/ub/des

Second time unlucky: A US company’s lunar lander appears to have touched down at a wonky angle on Thursday, an embarrassing repeat of its previous mission’s less-than-perfect landing last year.Houston-based Intuitive Machines made history in February 2024 as the first private firm to place a spaceship on Earth’s nearest neighbor, though the moment was marred by Odysseus toppling over upon touchdown.For its second attempt, the company sent the hexagonal Athena lander to the Mons Mouton plateau, closer to the lunar south pole than any mission before it.The team targeted a 12:32 pm ET (1732 GMT) touchdown, but as time passed with confirmation, mission control grew visibly tense.Twenty minutes after the scheduled landing, company spokesman Josh Marshall announced on a webcast: “Athena is on the surface of the Moon.” However, teams were still analyzing data to determine the lander’s exact status, he said.Later, CEO Steve Altemus acknowledged to reporters: “We don’t believe we’re in the correct attitude,” an aeronautical term for orientation. He added that the lander’s position could limit power generation and communication, impacting the mission’s success.Intuitive Machines’ share price tumbled 20 percent in afternoon trading. The company suggested that, as in its previous mission, issues with Athena’s laser altimeters, which provide altitude and velocity readings, may have played a role in the suboptimal landing.Athena, like its predecessor Odysseus, has a tall, slender build. At 15.6 feet (4.8 meters) — the height of a giraffe — it had raised stability concerns. However, Altemus emphasized that the lander’s weight distribution kept the center of gravity low, and Intuitive Machines remains confident in its design.Expectations were high after Texas rival Firefly Aerospace successfully landed its Blue Ghost lander on the Moon on Sunday on its first attempt.- Cutting-edge technologies at stake -Both missions are part of NASA’s $2.6 billion Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program, which seeks to leverage private industry to reduce costs and support Artemis, NASA’s effort to return astronauts to the Moon and eventually to reach Mars.Athena carries an ice-drilling experiment, a 4G cellular network test, three rovers, and a unique hopping drone named Grace, designed to descend into a permanently shadowed crater—where sunlight has never reached—a first for humanity.However, whether any of these objectives can be met depends on Athena’s final resting angle, which is yet to be determined.”Any time humanity puts a lander on the moon, it’s a good day,” said Tim Crain, the Intuitive Machines chief technology officer, striking a positive tone.The team hopes to use imagery from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter to determine Athena’s exact location and orientation, though this could take a day or two, Crain added.Despite the non-optimal orientation, NASA’s Nicky Fox, associate administrator for the science mission directorate, said the agency remains “excited” and will prioritize gathering as much scientific and technology data as possible before the mission ends.  – Sticking the landing -Lunar landings are notoriously difficult. The Moon’s lack of atmosphere rules out parachutes, forcing spacecraft to rely on precise thrusts and navigation over hazardous terrain.Until Intuitive Machines’ first mission, only national space agencies had achieved the feat, with NASA’s last landing dating back to Apollo 17 in 1972.The company’s first lander, Odysseus, came in too fast, caught a foot on the surface and toppled over, cutting the mission short when its solar panels could not generate enough power.Athena launched last Wednesday aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, which also carried NASA’s Lunar Trailblazer probe, a spacecraft designed to map the Moon’s water distribution.However, ground controllers have been struggling to re-establish contact with Trailblazer, adding to NASA’s challenges.These missions come at a delicate time for NASA, amid speculation that the agency may scale back or even cancel the crewed Moon missions in favor of prioritizing Mars, a goal championed by President Donald Trump and his billionaire advisor and SpaceX owner Elon Musk.

Wall Street stocks resumed their downward slide on Thursday amid uncertainty over US President Donald Trump’s shifting trade policy, while European bourses advanced following an ECB interest rate cut.Major US indices spent the entire day in the red, shrugging off Trump’s moves to soften tariff actions.Trump on Thursday unveiled a temporary rollback to steep tariffs targeting Canada and Mexico, broadening a step announced Wednesday that gave relief to the auto sector. Stocks had rallied after the auto reprieve, but this time all three major indices dropped one percent or more.Art Hogan of B. Riley Wealth Management said the uncertainty around trade policy is “affecting the real economy,” dragging down consumer sentiment and business investment.”The longer that goes on, the more the economy slows,” he said.In Europe, Frankfurt’s DAX index hit a new record as plans for a massive German defense and infrastructure investment program stoked optimism for pulling the eurozone’s largest economy out of recession.France and other eurozone markets ended the day higher as the European Central Bank followed through with an expected quarter-point cut in interest rates.But ECB President Christine Lagarde said that rising trade tensions could knock eurozone economic growth.”We have risks all over and uncertainty all over,” Lagarde added.The ECB cut its growth forecasts for this year and the next while raising its 2025 inflation estimate.Meanwhile, bond yields continued to climb, and the rise extended to Asia, with Japanese 10-year yields hitting 1.5 percent for the first time in more than a decade.The increase signals expectations of higher inflation and that governments, companies and consumers will need to pay more to borrow.- Asia rises -Wednesday’s announcement of the tariff delay buoyed Asian stock markets, in particular lifting the auto sector.The move “helped reinforce hopes there may be some flexibility in the new administration’s trade policy,” said AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould.Chinese stocks responded well to Beijing announcing its 2025 growth target of around five percent, at the start of its annual meeting of the National People’s Congress on Wednesday.The meeting has heightened investors’ expectations that a huge fiscal stimulus package could be coming. China has vowed to make domestic demand its main economic driver despite facing persistent economic headwinds, and as an escalating trade war with the US hit exports.- Key figures around 2150 GMT -New York – Dow: DOWN 1.0 percent at 42,579.08 (close)New York – S&P 500: DOWN 1.8 percent at 5,738.52 (close)New York – Nasdaq Composite: DOWN 2.6 percent at 18,069.26 (close)London – FTSE 100: DOWN 0.8 percent at 8,682.84 (close)Paris – CAC 40: UP 0.3 percent at 8,197.67 (close)Frankfurt – DAX: UP 1.5 percent at 23,419.48 (close)Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP 0.8 percent at 37,704.93 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 3.3 percent at 24,369.71 (close)Shanghai – Composite: UP 1.2 percent at 3,381.10 (close)Euro/dollar: DOWN at 1.0787 from 1.0789 on WednesdayPound/dollar: UP at $1.2882 from $1.2895Dollar/yen: DOWN 147.97 from 148.88 yenEuro/pound: UP at 83.72 pence from 83.67 penceBrent North Sea Crude: UP 0.2 percent at 69.46 per barrelWest Texas Intermediate: FLAT at $66.31 per barrelburs-jmb/des

After an outcry from Detroit, President Donald Trump has granted one-month tariff exemptions on most auto imports from Canada and Mexico, underscoring the continued clout of US carmakers.The “Big Three” automakers — Ford, General Motors and Chrysler-owner Stellantis — operate their businesses on an integrated basis throughout North America, leaving them badly exposed to the proposed tariffs.Trump, who won hotly-contested Michigan during the 2024 presidential campaign, halted the auto tariffs on Wednesday, just a day after they took effect. The announcement represents relief “but not a cure” since the same tariffs could kick in next month, said Bank of America.- Diminished ‘Big 3’ still a force -While much diminished from their heyday, General Motors, Ford and Stellantis remain giant players in the United States in terms of jobs and economic impact.Automakers in the United States employ 436,000 workers, with the Big Three accounting for about 55 percent of that number.The trio also accounts for half of the US assembly plants and nearly half of the 10 million vehicles assembled annually in the United States, according to a report by the American Automotive Policy Council (AAPC).By comparison, foreign automakers like Honda, BMW and Nissan each account for five percent or less of total US auto jobs, while electric vehicle maker Tesla — led by close Trump ally Elon Musk — accounts for 14 percent, according to the AAPC.- Integrated throughout North America -The Big Three also produce cars in overseas factories, but most of their imports come from Mexico and Canada under the terms of a free trade pact inked during Trump’s first term, the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).Popular vehicles imported from Mexico in 2024 included the Chevrolet Silverado and the Ford Maverick, while the Chrysler Pacifica and the Lincoln Nautilus were imported from Canada, according to figures from GlobalData.Foreign automakers like Toyota and Honda also make use of the USMCA to produce cars in Canada and Mexico sold in the United States, and in organizing sophisticated supply chains in which parts and technology move seamlessly throughout the region.The auto supply industry employs 932,000 people across the 50 US states, according to MEMA, the Vehicle Suppliers Association. The US auto supply industry procures about 27 percent of its manufacturing sourcing from Mexico and 10 percent from Canada, according to MEMA.- Other car tariffs coming -The auto industry’s regional integration has made it among the sectors most exposed to Trump’s hefty 25 percent tariffs on Mexico and Canada.Ford CEO Jim Farley warned in February that enactment of the tariffs “would blow a hole in the US industry that we have never seen.”While greeting Trump’s tariff reprieve for USMCA-covered auto imports, automakers recognized the pause is only for one month.The Trump administration has depicted the tariffs as a tool to encourage more manufacturing capacity in the United States, but such decisions are not taken overnight.”The reality is that a month is nowhere near enough time for automakers to relocate factories or reconfigure supply chains,” said Jessica Caldwell, head of insights at Edmunds.”In the short term, manufacturers may need to ramp up production and stockpile inventory as a hedge against potential tariffs —- an expensive and risky move that could lead to bloated inventories if the tariffs don’t take effect.”Trump has broadly discussed a desire for 25 percent tariffs on imported cars but has offered few details.If the administration maintains protection for USMCA imports, automakers from Germany, Japan and South Korea that import to the United States would seem to be the most exposed to such a policy.About 50 percent of the cars sold in the United States are manufactured within the country. Among imports, about half come from Mexico and Canada, with Japan, South Korea and Germany, also major suppliers.

The United States offered a $10-million reward on Thursday for information leading to the arrest of a Canadian former Olympic snowboarder wanted on drug and murder charges.Ryan Wedding, 43, who is believed to be in Mexico or another Latin American country, was also placed on the FBI’s list of the “Ten Most Wanted Fugitives.””Wedding went from shredding powder on the slopes at the Olympics to distributing powder cocaine on the streets of US cities and in his native Canada,” said Akil Davis, assistant director of the FBI’s Los Angeles field office.”The alleged murders of his competitors make Wedding a very dangerous man,” Davis said.Wedding, whose aliases include “El Jefe,” “Giant” and “Public Enemy,” may possibly be living under the protection of the Sinaloa drug cartel, Davis said at a press conference.Acting US Attorney Joseph McNally said Wedding had allegedly shipped hundreds of millions of dollars of cocaine from Colombia through Mexico to the United States and Canada.Alan Hamilton, chief of detectives for the Los Angeles Police Department, said Wedding used the southern California city as the hub for the drug smuggling operation.”An estimated 60 metric tons of cocaine per year and five metric tons of fentanyl per month moved through Los Angeles on its way to US and Canadian cities,” Hamilton said.Wedding, who competed for Canada in snowboarding at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics, finishing 24th in the parallel giant slalom, is one of 16 defendants facing US charges for their roles in the drug operation.”The organization is violent, responsible for deaths as part of its criminal operations,” McNally said.These include the November 2023 murders of two members of a family in Ontario, Canada, in retaliation for a stolen drug shipment and a May 2024 murder in Niagara Falls, Ontario, over a drug debt.The State Department is offering a $10-million reward for information leading to the arrest or conviction of Wedding.Wedding’s second-in-command, fellow Canadian Andrew Clark, 34, known as “El Dictador,” was among 29 alleged or convicted narcotics traffickers extradited to the United States from Mexico last week.

President Donald Trump responded Thursday to growing criticism over unprecedented cuts to the US government overseen by his billionaire advisor Elon Musk, saying they should be carefully targeted.”We say the ‘scalpel’ rather than the ‘hatchet,'” Trump posted on his social media platform Truth Social.The president’s message represents the first move to rein in the power accorded to Musk, as his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) works toward gutting federal staffing and spending.But later, directly asked by reporters whether DOGE and Musk are moving too fast, Trump said: “No, I think they’ve done an amazing job.” While Musk is not the formal administrator of DOGE, the SpaceX and Tesla CEO is nonetheless directing operations and even attended the first cabinet meeting of Trump’s second term.The body’s cost-cutting campaign has faced increasing resistance on multiple fronts, however, including court rulings and some pressure from lawmakers.”DOGE has been an incredible success, and now that we have my Cabinet in place, I have instructed the Secretaries and Leadership to work with DOGE on Cost Cutting measures and Staffing,” Trump posted.”As the Secretaries learn about, and understand, the people working for the various Departments, they can be very precise as to who will remain, and who will go.”Trump confirmed reports in the US media that he had convened his cabinet in person on Thursday to deliver the message that they, not Musk, were in charge of their departments.Trump told his team, with Musk in the room and on board, that the tech billionaire and top donor was authorized to recommend firings and other cuts but not to enforce them, according to Politico.”It’s very important that we cut levels down to where they should be, but it’s also important to keep the best and most productive people,” the president said, adding that follow-up cabinet meetings on DOGE would come every two weeks.- Thousands fired -Trump’s message came with the administration having fired or threatened to axe tens of thousands of workers from numerous federal agencies as it pursues cost savings.More than two million federal employees received demands from the US Office of Personnel Management (OPM) — the government’s human resources department — and Musk himself that they account for the work they have been doing in a bullet pointed memo or face the sack.Labor groups quickly opposed the request, with the largest federal employee union, the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), vowing to challenge any unlawful terminations.Several recent polls indicate that most Americans disapprove of the disruption to the nationwide federal workforce.Dozens of lawsuits against Musk’s threats or demands have yielded mixed results, with some requests for immediate halts to his executive orders being denied by judges.Politico said Musk — who had meetings with Republican lawmakers on Wednesday to reassure them over criticism of DOGE — acknowledged in front of the cabinet that the task force had made missteps.Around a third of DOGE staffers had resigned in protest over its methods by the end of February, saying they would not push through demanded changes that put the country at risk.”We swore to serve the American people and uphold our oath to the Constitution across presidential administrations,” 21 staffers of DOGE wrote in a letter, seen by AFP, to White House chief of staff Susan Wiles.”However, it has become clear that we can no longer honor those commitments,” they added.The cuts have even sparked criticism from the normally staunchly-loyal Senate Republicans, whose leader John Thune preempted Trump by telling CNN on Tuesday that cabinet officials should retain the full control of personnel decisions. 

Jane Goodall and William Shatner are set to receive honors from the Sierra Club, the major environmental group said Thursday, at a time when climate and conservation protections are being drastically rolled back in the United States.Primate researcher Goodall and “Star Trek” actor Shatner, both renowned activists, will be recognized at a star-studded Los Angeles fundraising gala on April 2 which aims to spotlight environmental concerns at a critical moment.”We do not have the luxury of waiting for action on climate change and environmental justice as communities grapple with the crisis on a daily basis. The choices we make today will shape the future of our planet and our communities,” Ben Jealous, executive director of the Sierra Club, told AFP. US President Donald Trump, who has called climate change a “scam,” recently pulled Washington out of the landmark Paris Agreement for a second time, expanded domestic oil drilling, and signed executive orders to slow the transition to electric vehicles.Government agencies including the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have been targeted for mass layoffs.Goodall will receive the Sierra Club Lifetime Achievement Award “for her inspiring dedication to protect chimpanzees and conserving the natural world.”Shatner will collect a Visionary Award “for using his platform to raise awareness about the climate crisis.”Other honorees at the 2025 Trail Blazers Ball, which brings activists and environmentalists together with celebrities, include Indigenous climate activist and fashion model Quannah Chasinghorse.The Sierra Club boasts millions of members and supporters, and is the oldest US environmental group — formed in 1892.Most scientists agree that climate change currently underway differs from natural cycles of the past. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says it is indisputably attributable to human activity, and in particular to the burning of fossil fuels, especially since the end of the 19th century.

Obesity is on the rise not just in humans but in dogs, whose history of selective breeding makes them an ideal species for studying the balance between genetics, diet, and lifestyle in weight gain.In a new paper published Thursday in Science, researchers identified a gene strongly linked to obesity in pet pooches — and found it is also associated with weight gain in humans.”The prevailing attitude towards obesity is that people are just a bit rubbish about controlling what they eat, whereas actually, our data shows that if you’re a high-risk individual, it takes more effort to keep you slim,” lead author Eleanor Raffan, a researcher in the University of Cambridge’s Department of Physiology, Development, and Neuroscience, told AFP.A veterinarian as well as a scientist, Raffan has long sought to study animal genetics to uncover broader biological insights that apply across species, including our own.For this study, she and her colleagues focused on British Labrador Retrievers.”Anyone who knows dogs will understand that starting with Labradors is a good idea because they’re very prone to getting obese,” she said. “They’ve got this reputation for being really foodie dogs, really obsessed by food.”The team collected slobber samples from 241 dogs and conducted a genome-wide association study, which examines an organism’s entire set of genes to identify areas linked to a specific trait.The top five genes were also present in humans, with the one exerting the strongest influence called DENND1B.They also assessed how much the dogs pestered their owners for food and whether they were fussy eaters.”Low-risk dogs tended to remain a healthy weight, irrespective of how their owners managed their food and exercise,” said Raffan. “But if you were a high-genetic-risk dog, then if your owners were complacent about diet and exercise, you were likely to get really, really overweight.”For Raffan, the study has two major takeaways.First, it sheds new light on how DENND1B affects a brain pathway responsible for regulating energy balance and appetite. Known as the leptin-melanocortin pathway, this system is a key target for some anti-obesity drugs.”Only by understanding biology and the nuances of it can we possibly improve our treatment and management of obesity,” she said.Second, the study allowed researchers to quantify genetic risk for obesity in individual dogs — and the level of effort required to keep them at a healthy weight. This is easier to measure in dogs than in humans, since their diet and exercise are entirely controlled by their owners.”We shouldn’t be rude to owners of overweight dogs,” Raffan emphasized.”It’s not that they’re hopeless individuals who don’t care about their pets. It’s just that they’ve got animals who persistently seek out opportunities to eat, and just a little bit extra every day is enough to cause weight gain over time.”

A US company’s spaceship touched down on the Moon on Thursday, but its condition — including whether it landed upright — remains uncertain.Houston-based Intuitive Machines made history last year as the first private firm to achieve a lunar landing, though the moment was overshadowed when its lander ended up on its side.For the company’s second attempt, it sent the 15.6-foot (4.8-meter) tall hexagonal Athena lander to the vast Mons Mouton plateau — closer to the lunar south pole than any mission before it.They were aiming for a 12:32 pm ET (1732 GMT) touchdown, and mission control teams looked downcast as they worked to confirm the outcome.Twenty minutes past the scheduled landing time, company spokesman Josh Marshall announced on a webcast: “Athena is on the surface of the Moon.” However, teams were still analyzing incoming data to assess the lander’s status, and attempting to retrieve an image.”We are working to figure out the orientation of the vehicle,” Marshall added, before the live feed abruptly ended.The mission is designed to test an array of advanced technologies that could support future crewed lunar missions — including an ice-drilling system, a 4G network experiment, three rovers, and a first-of-its-kind hopping drone.The pressure was high after Texas rival Firefly Aerospace successfully landed its Blue Ghost lander on the Moon just days earlier, on Sunday.Both missions are part of US space agency NASA’s $2.6-billion Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program, which aims to leverage private industry to reduce costs and support Artemis — NASA’s effort to return astronauts to the Moon and, eventually, reach Mars.- A hopper named Grace -Athena aims to deploy three rovers and a unique hopping drone named Grace, named after late computer science pioneer Grace Hopper.One of Grace’s boldest objectives is a hop into a permanently shadowed crater, a place where sunlight has never shone — a first for humanity.While NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter proved flight is possible on Mars, the Moon’s lack of atmosphere makes traditional flying impossible, positioning hoppers like Grace as a key technology for future exploration.MAPP, the largest of Athena’s rovers and roughly the size of a beagle, will assist in testing a Nokia Bell Labs 4G cellular network linking it with the lander and Grace — technology designed to one day integrate into astronaut spacesuits.There’s also a more compact, tablet-sized rover from Japanese company Dymon, and a tiny AstroAnt rover, equipped with magnetic wheels to cling to MAPP and use its sensors to measure temperature variations.Also aboard Athena is PRIME-1, a NASA instrument carrying a drill to search for ice and other chemicals beneath the lunar surface, paired with a spectrometer to analyze its findings.- Sticking the landing -Lunar landings are notoriously difficult. The Moon’s lack of atmosphere rules out parachutes and forces spacecraft to rely on precise thrusts and navigation over hazardous terrain.Until Intuitive Machines’ first mission, only national space agencies had achieved the feat, with NASA’s last landing dating back to Apollo 17 in 1972.The company’s first lander, Odysseus, came in too fast, caught a foot on the surface and toppled over, cutting the mission short when its solar panels could not generate enough power.This time, the company said it had made critical upgrades, including better cabling for the laser altimeter, which provides altitude and velocity readings to ensure a safe touchdown.Athena launched last Wednesday aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, which also carried NASA’s Lunar Trailblazer probe, which has also faced problems.Ground controllers are struggling to re-establish contact with the small satellite, designed to map the Moon’s water distribution.These missions come at a delicate time for NASA, amid speculation that the agency may scale back or even cancel the crewed Moon missions in favor of prioritizing Mars — a goal championed by President Donald Trump and his billionaire advisor Elon Musk.