Mon Mar 10 06:58:03 UTC 2025: **Intuitive Machines’ Lunar Lander Mission Ends in Failure**
**Houston, TX (March 10, 2025)** – Intuitive Machines’ lunar lander, Athena, has failed to complete its mission after a botched landing near the moon’s south pole. The lander, launched last week, missed its target by over 250 meters, landing sideways in a crater. Despite sending back initial images and activating some experiments, Athena’s mission concluded prematurely due to the lander’s position and the extreme cold affecting its solar panels.
The mission, carrying tens of millions of dollars worth of NASA experiments including an ice drill, a drone (Grace), and two rovers, aimed to explore the unexplored terrain in preparation for future astronaut landings. While the ice drill was activated and the data from a companion science instrument collected some data, the larger rover never deployed, and the drone’s mission was aborted. Although the rover survived the landing, it was unable to operate due to Athena’s position.
This marks the second failed landing attempt for Intuitive Machines; their first lander, while also experiencing a sideways landing a year ago, remained operational for a longer duration. Despite this setback, Intuitive Machines’ previous lander successfully returned the U.S. to the moon after more than 50 years.
The incident contrasts sharply with the success of Firefly Aerospace, another Texas-based company, which successfully landed its Blue Ghost lander on the moon’s near side earlier this week under NASA’s commercial lunar delivery program. Eight of the ten NASA experiments onboard Blue Ghost have already met their objectives.
The south polar region presents significant challenges due to harsh sun angles, communication difficulties, and rugged terrain. Athena’s landing, while unsuccessful, represented the closest approach to the south pole by any spacecraft, just 160 km away. This region is a key target for future crewed missions, with its craters potentially holding vast quantities of water ice crucial for future lunar operations. NASA aims to land astronauts there by 2027.
Intuitive Machines, which holds contracts for two more moon landing deliveries with NASA, stated that the mission’s data will be analyzed to determine the cause of the failure before proceeding with future launches. Preliminary assessments point to last-minute issues with the lander’s primary laser navigation system in both landing attempts. NASA invested $62 million in the Athena mission.
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