Intuitive Machines has done it again—sent a robotic explorer all the way to the moon, only for it to possibly face-plant the moment it arrived. Athena, the company’s latest lunar lander, touched down Thursday at 12:30 p.m. ET, making it the second private spacecraft to land on the moon this week. That’s right—corporate moon landings are officially a trend, and the success rate is… let’s call it “work in progress.”
Athena’s destination was Mons Mouton, a flat-topped mountain near the moon’s south pole, where some of the solar system’s best real estate for future human colonies may exist. Intuitive Machines’ chief technology officer confirmed the lander arrived somewhere inside the designated 50-meter zone—but “where exactly” remains an open question. If NASA ever wants humans to live on the moon, step one is figuring out how to stick the landing.
CEO Steve Altemus admitted the lander likely isn’t at the “correct attitude,” which is aerospace jargon for “we think it tipped over.” Last year’s Intuitive Machines lander, Odysseus, also had a rough landing, proving that gravity is not to be underestimated, even when it’s only one-sixth as strong as Earth’s. Still, Altemus remained optimistic, pointing out that this mission was smoother than the last one, so at least their controlled crashes are getting more controlled.
Despite its possibly awkward posture, Athena was packed with some serious tech. One of its key payloads: a passive laser retroreflector array, which could one day help spacecraft communicate as they zip around the moon. NASA is so interested in this technology that it’s handed Intuitive Machines up to $4.8 billion to develop lunar communication infrastructure—though only $150 million of that is guaranteed, because NASA, too, knows how to hedge a bet.
The lander is also carrying an ice mining experiment for NASA, designed to determine whether the moon has enough frozen water to one day provide fuel or breathable oxygen. If that sounds like the first step toward a sci-fi mining colony, well, you’re not wrong. The future of space exploration may hinge on whether we can extract what we need rather than hauling it from Earth.
Also onboard: MAPP, a rover equipped with Nokia cellular technology, because apparently, someone at NASA thought “Can you hear me now?” would make a great lunar experiment. There’s also a solid-state storage unit being touted as the moon’s first data center—so if you’ve ever wanted to store your vacation photos on the lunar surface, that dream is now slightly closer to reality.
Athena’s fate remains uncertain. If it’s still functional despite its potential tumble, it could provide valuable data and prove that private companies have a role to play in the new space race. If not, well—at the rate these landers are going, the moon is going to have a lot of expensive scrap metal very soon.
Five Fast Facts
- NASA’s Mons Mouton landing site is named after Melba Roy Mouton, a pioneering Black mathematician who worked on early space missions.
- The only other country to ever land on the moon and immediately tip over? The Soviet Union, with Luna 23 in 1974.
- Nokia’s lunar cellular network is part of a larger plan to bring 4G service to the moon—because why not?
- Intuitive Machines’ first moon lander, Odysseus, was the first private spacecraft to touch down on the lunar surface in over 50 years.
- The moon’s south pole is a prime target for future missions because its permanently shadowed craters may hold billions of gallons of frozen water.