Intuitive Machines' Athena spacecraft has successfully landed near the Moon’s south pole, but early telemetry suggests the lander is resting on its side, raising concerns about its ability to complete its mission objectives. Despite the unusual landing, the spacecraft remains operational, generating power from its solar panels and maintaining communication with flight controllers.
Intuitive Machines Athena lander pictured in low lunar orbit prior to its final descent to the surface. Credit : Intuitive Machines.
The mission, launched eight days ago aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, was meant to be a key step in NASA’s push to establish a sustainable human presence on the Moon. However, the unexpected landing position has left mission controllers scrambling to determine how much of Athena’s planned scientific and technological demonstrations can still be executed.
“We don’t believe we’re in the correct attitude [orientation] on the surface of the Moon yet again,” said Intuitive Machines CEO Steve Altemus. “I don’t have all the data yet to say exactly what the attitude of the vehicle is.”
A Troubled History of Landings
Athena is Intuitive Machines’ second lander to reach the Moon. Its predecessor, Odysseus, landed last year but also ended up on its side due to a sideways motion at touchdown. A broken landing leg caused the spacecraft to tip over, limiting its ability to complete its mission.
This second setback has already impacted the company financially, with Intuitive Machines’ stock dropping 20% following the landing.
NASA, which has been heavily involved in funding commercial lunar missions like Athena through its Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program, is monitoring the situation closely. The agency paid $62.5 million for Athena to deliver scientific instruments to the Moon, including a powerful drill and a mass spectrometer known as Prime-1.
Athena’s journey to the lunar surface began with a five-day cruise after its launch from Kennedy Space Center. On Monday, the spacecraft successfully braked into lunar orbit. Then, early Thursday morning, while on the far side of the Moon, its main engine fired again to lower its orbit, setting up for the final descent.
As Athena neared its intended landing site in the Mons Mouton region, its terrain relative navigation system analyzed the surface ahead, searching for a safe touchdown zone. The lander autonomously adjusted its approach before initiating powered descent, reducing its velocity from 4,000 mph to just 2.2 mph for the final moments before touchdown.
However, telemetry later indicated that something had gone wrong in the final descent phase, causing Athena to land on its side.
Mission controllers are now working to analyze the lander’s precise orientation using onboard sensors, images from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, and any available ground imagery from Athena itself.
“The most reliable information we have is from our inertial measurement unit [IMU], which indicates the lander is on its side,” Altemus explained. “But we need pictures to determine exactly where the antennas, the engine bell, and the solar panels are positioned so we can develop a power profile.”
Despite the setback, Athena remains functional, generating power from its solar arrays and responding to commands from Earth. The next challenge is determining whether its scientific instruments and technology demonstrations can still operate in this unplanned orientation.
One of the key mission objectives was deploying the Grace hopper, an experimental rocket-powered vehicle designed to “hop” across the lunar surface and explore shadowed craters for signs of water ice. It remains unclear whether the hopper can still be deployed.
Other payloads aboard Athena include:
Two small rovers designed to test lunar mobility systems.
- Experimental 4G/LTE cellular communication technology provided by Nokia, intended to facilitate lunar surface communications.
- Soil analysis tools to search for water and other volatile compounds.
If Athena’s solar panels are not optimally positioned, power generation could be significantly reduced, further limiting mission operations. Time is also a major factor—the lander only has about 10 days of sunlight before the lunar night begins, at which point its solar-powered systems will cease functioning.
“When we get that full assessment, we will then work closely with NASA’s science and technology groups to identify the highest-priority objectives,” Altemus said. “We’re not getting everything we planned in terms of power and communications, but we’ll do our best to adapt.”
Setbacks for Other Lunar Missions
Athena’s landing was part of a broader commercial space effort that saw multiple payloads launched aboard the same Falcon 9 rocket. However, other missions in the group have also encountered difficulties.
NASA’s Lunar Trailblazer satellite, designed to map lunar water deposits, lost contact shortly after launch and has not been recovered. Similarly, AstroForge’s Odin prospector, a commercial probe intended for asteroid mining research, has suffered technical failures that make its recovery unlikely.
On a more successful note, Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost lander successfully landed on the Moon last Sunday, carrying ten NASA-sponsored instruments as part of another CLPS-funded mission. Meanwhile, Japan’s Resilience lander, developed by ispace, is on its way to the Moon and is expected to arrive in early June.
Despite Athena’s challenges, NASA remains committed to its commercial partnerships through the CLPS program, which aims to lay the groundwork for human lunar exploration under the Artemis program.
NASA’s long-term goal is to establish a sustainable human presence near the Moon’s south pole, where permanently shadowed craters may hold valuable reserves of water ice. This water could one day be converted into rocket fuel and life-supporting resources, making it a critical component of future lunar missions.
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