Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Athena spacecraft declared dead after toppling over on moon

theguardian.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

141–150 of 360 posts

Re: Athena spacecraft declared dead after toppling over on moon

#141

Post by bloomingeek »

rrr_oh_man wrote: post #85
celsius1414 wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are likely aware of the English language's feature of multiple adjectives (that are modifying the same noun) needing to appear in a certain order to sound "correct". So for example "yellow big balloon" sounds wrong but "big yellow balloon" sounds right. This is because SIZE is supposed to come before COLOR in standard English phrases. In this case, "robotic" and "private" could be similar enough in category to be…

Upvoted, but just wanted to say it explicitly: What an in-depth and thoughtful answer. Thank you for this!

Having been raised in the states, I was a little shocked when I purchased a small book on English grammar. It explained a lot of tenses and proper arraignments of sentences I never knew. [which is clear from the things I just wrote. :)]

Re: Athena spacecraft declared dead after toppling over on moon

#142

Post by card_zero »

marssaxman wrote: post #137
725686 wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am not a native English speaker (or English native speaker, ;)), but I've been using it forever...but didn't know there was an official adjective ordering.

I don't think most native English speakers know that, either. I only learned about it by hearing people explain it as an aspect of English to non-native speakers; it was not something anyone taught me in school, it's not something I've ever heard anyone mention in the context of proofreading or writing advice, and I couldn't actually tell you how it works - though I'm sure I must be using it instinctively.

It's strangely intuitive, unlike English spelling. People going around getting it right all the time without even knowing it.

Not unique to English, either: Wikipedia has examples in Tagalog where the order is almost the same (apart from a clause inserted in the middle of the second sequence).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tagalog_grammar#Sequence_of_mo...

Re: Athena spacecraft declared dead after toppling over on moon

#143

Post by Onawa »

725686 wrote: post #133
celsius1414 wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are likely aware of the English language's feature of multiple adjectives (that are modifying the same noun) needing to appear in a certain order to sound "correct". So for example "yellow big balloon" sounds wrong but "big yellow balloon" sounds right. This is because SIZE is supposed to come before COLOR in standard English phrases. In this case, "robotic" and "private" could be similar enough in category to be…

I am not a native English speaker (or English native speaker, ;)), but I've been using it forever...but didn't know there was an official adjective ordering.

The order of adjectives was never taught in K-12. It seems to be followed naturally by native English speakers without much thought until the order isn't followed. Then it sounds weird but most native speakers wouldn't be able to tell you why.

Re: Athena spacecraft declared dead after toppling over on moon

#145

Post by jamesy0ung »

gtirloni wrote: post #71

Not a native English speaker here, my focus stopped at the subtitle "Robotic private spacecraft touched down about 250 miles from its intended landing site on Thursday". It feels odd to read "robotic private spacecraft" instead of "private robotic spacecraft" but I can't explain why.

I'm a native English speaker and I think it's weird as well.

Re: Athena spacecraft declared dead after toppling over on moon

#147

Post by smithkl42 »

marssaxman wrote: post #137
725686 wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am not a native English speaker (or English native speaker, ;)), but I've been using it forever...but didn't know there was an official adjective ordering.

I don't think most native English speakers know that, either. I only learned about it by hearing people explain it as an aspect of English to non-native speakers; it was not something anyone taught me in school, it's not something I've ever heard anyone mention in the context of proofreading or writing advice, and I couldn't actually tell you how it works - though I'm sure I must be using it instinctively.

"I first tried to write a story when I was about seven. It was about a dragon. I remember nothing about it except a philological fact. My mother said nothing about the dragon, but pointed out that one could not say “A green great dragon,” but had to say “a great green dragon.” I wondered why, and still do." - J. R. R. Tolkien

Re: Athena spacecraft declared dead after toppling over on moon

#148

Post by dr_orpheus »

BugsJustFindMe wrote: post #91
dreamcompiler wrote: post #78

Good advice: 1. Never invade Russia in winter. 2. Make sure your robotic lunar lander has a low center of gravity.

> Never invade Russia in winter. I thought it was never get involved in a land war in Asia.

Never go in against a Sicilian when death (of a spacecraft) is on the line

Re: Athena spacecraft declared dead after toppling over on moon

#149

Post by Oarch »

kccqzy wrote: post #38
mikeyouse wrote: post #13

Kind of passed over in the discussion of the science and toppling - but did they give any idea why it landed 250 miles from its intended landing site? Seems like a really large error?

250 miles? The mission official website of Intuitive Machines says 250 meters. From https://www.intuitivemachines.com/im-2 > HOUSTON, TX – March 7, 2025 – Intuitive Machines, Inc. (Nasdaq: LUNR, LUNRW) (“Intuitive Machines”) (“Company”), a leading space exploration, infrastructure, and services company, has announced the IM-2 mission lunar lander, Athena, landed 250 meters from its intended landing site in the Mons M…

There's a long history of typos behind the paper's nickname Grauniad

Re: Athena spacecraft declared dead after toppling over on moon

#150

Post by jazzyjackson »

Onawa wrote: post #143
725686 wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am not a native English speaker (or English native speaker, ;)), but I've been using it forever...but didn't know there was an official adjective ordering.

The order of adjectives was never taught in K-12. It seems to be followed naturally by native English speakers without much thought until the order isn't followed. Then it sounds weird but most native speakers wouldn't be able to tell you why.

afaik Grammar is an attempt to systematize how native speakers speak, descriptive rather than prescriptive and so on. Tho maybe with writing there’s a feedback loop, and more instances where corrections are in order than colloquial speech.
Post reply on HN