Intuitive Machines IM-2 lunar lander within SpaceX Falcon 9 payload fairing.
Image credit: SpaceX
The latest lander to touch down on the Moon is the Intuitive Machine IM-2 mission, called Athena. But the craft tipped over on landing that lead to loss of the spacecraft and fulfilling operational, and full use of its load of payloads.
New imagery from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter depicts the landing site terrain and locale of the lost to the Moon commercial spacecraft.
Rest in peace IM-2. Image credit: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University
The IM-2 Athena lander hit the surface faster than intended and ended up on its side within a 65-foot dimater (20-meters) crater.
Image credit: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University
Tipped over Athena Moon lander.
Image credit: Intuitive Machines
Two for two troubles
On March 6, the Athena lander made its way down to attempt a landing in Mons Mouton, a lunar plateau near the Moon’s South Pole.
The effort is part of NASA’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative and the space agency’s Artemis campaign to establish a long-term lunar presence.
But in a bit of a retro-replay, the IM-2 botched landing seems similar to the IM-1 mission of the group’s Odysseus lunar lander last year.
Coming in hot
The $118 million IM-1 Odysseus spacecraft was victorious in February 2024 in becoming the first U.S.-built probe to make a lunar touchdown since the Apollo 17 human-carrying moon trek over 50 years earlier.
However, it too was not a glitch-free ride to its intended destination, Malapert A, near the Moon’s south pole.
That six-legged lander came in hot.
The IM-1 mission arrived with a higher downward and horizontal speed than designed for, hitting harder, skidding across sloping terrain, snapping off some of its landing gear in the process.
The IM-1 mission also tipped over, resulting in less-than-optimal success.