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The second moonlight landing place endeavour by Houston - based Intuitive Machines has terminate just as the company ’s first did — with the lander stagnant after tip over on its side inside a lunar volcanic crater , a new range confirms .
fit in toNASA , which hired Intuitive Machines to carry several scientific instruments tothe moonas part of its Commercial Lunar Payload Services ( CLPS ) opening move , the lander prematurely suspended mathematical operation on Friday ( March 7 ) when its battery depleted just 12 hours after the blow landing place .
NASA shared this view from the sideways Athena moon lander, looking at the distant Earth between its own upturned legs.
Before shutting down , the lander ’s various legal document manage to transmit about 250 megabytes of data to NASA , including a telltale photo showing two of the space vehicle ’s leg jutting upward , a half - lit earthly concern hovering majestically in the distance .
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It is not yet light what went wrong for the IM-2 mission and the Athena lander , which formally touched down on the moon ’s near - side at 12:30 p.m. EST on Thursday ( March 6 ) and ended surgical operation at 1:15 a.m. on Friday . NASA take note that the spacecraft also landed more than 1,300 feet ( 400 beat ) from its intended landing website near the moon ’s south pole .
An uncropped view of the Athena lander looking at Earth.
" While we ’re disappointed in the upshot of the IM-2 mission , we remain committed to supporting our commercial-grade trafficker as they sail thevery difficult taskof landing and operating on the Moon,“Joel Kearns , deputy associate administrator for Exploration in the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington , D.C.,said in a statement .
The past (and future) of private moon landings
This was the second lunar landing place attempt for Intuitive Machines in as many age . The ship’s company completed its first landing place on Feb. 22 , 2024 , when theOdysseus ballistic capsule touch down , becoming the first U.S. ballistic capsule to reach the lunar surface since Apollo 17 in 1972 .
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However , during its pedigree Odysseus ' landing place lasers malfunctioned , causing the spacecraft to temporarily lose the steering needed to reckon landing place distances . One of Odysseus ' legs snapped on the lunar surface , and the ballistic capsule fall on its side , limiting some of its functions . The spacecraftfell silent one week after put down , shutting down power before the frosty lunar Nox set in .
NASA has committed to working with Intuitive Machines on two more lunar speech , with its IM-3 mission scheduled for 2026 , and IM-4 slotted for 2027 .
The landing attempt come just day after a successful touchdown by rival space company , Firefly Aerospace . The caller ’s Blue Ghost spacecraftaced its landing on Sunday(March 2 ) , charge home an double of the lander ’s perfectly - upright shadow cast onto the lunar surface . Blue Ghost , also part of the CLPS opening move , has 10 NASA instruments in its lander that will operate on the moon ’s surface for about 14 Earth days ( one lunar day ) .
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