SpacecraftMoonEnded
Intuitive Machines IM-2 (Athena lander)
Intuitive Machines' second Nova-C lander, Athena, launched 2025-02-26 and touched down near Mons Mouton on 2025-03-06 inside a crater, on its side; the mission ended 2025-03-07. It carried NASA's PRIME-1 ice-drill and mass-spectrometer suite, Lunar Outpost's MAPP rover (with a NASA regolith-collection mechanism) and IM's Grace hopper.
Objective. Deliver NASA's PRIME-1 drill and mass spectrometer to measure volatiles in south-polar regolith, plus a rover to collect regolith for NASA purchase and a hopper to demonstrate water-ice detection in a shadowed crater.
Targeted
Facts
- Kind
- Spacecraft
- Mission type
- Prospecting
- Target
- MoonMons Mouton region, lunar south pole (landed inside a nearby crater)
- Launch
- 2025-02-26
- Launch vehicle
- SpaceX Falcon 9
- Phase
- EndedIM release of 2025-03-07 and NASA release 25-025 (2025-03-07) state the lander landed on its side and the mission ended early.
- Outcome
- PartialBasis: operator statement
- Why it is included
- Carries a resource instrument
Outcome statement (operator statement)
Images downlinked from Athena on the lunar surface confirmed that Athena was on her side. ... With the direction of the sun, the orientation of the solar panels, and extreme cold temperatures in the crater, Intuitive Machines does not expect Athena to recharge. The mission has concluded and teams are continuing to assess the data collected throughout the mission.
Participants
Operators, payload owners, carriers and customers are recorded separately.
| Organization | Role |
|---|---|
| Intuitive Machines | Operator |
| National Aeronautics and Space Administration | Customer |
| Lunar Outpost | Payload owner |
| SpaceX | Launch provider |
Carried on this mission
Resources and evidence
| Resource | Evidence |
|---|---|
| Water ice | Targeted |
| Volatiles | Targeted |
| Regolith | Targeted |
Open evidence gaps
- IM's own written root-cause statement (May 2025 earnings materials) not raw-fetched; press account used.
Sources
11 sourcesImages downlinked from Athena on the lunar surface confirmed that Athena was on her side.
With the direction of the sun, the orientation of the solar panels, and extreme cold temperatures in the crater, Intuitive Machines does not expect Athena to recharge. The mission has concluded and teams are continuing to assess the data collected throughout the mission.
landed 250 meters from its intended landing site in the Mons Mouton region of the lunar south pole, inside of a crater
The mission has concluded and teams are continuing to assess the data collected throughout the mission.
the IM-2 mission included a drill to bring lunar soil to the surface and a mass spectrometer to look for the presence of volatiles, or gases, that could one day help provide fuel or breathable oxygen to future Artemis explorers
Intuitive Machines' IM-2 mission launched at 6:16 p.m., Feb. 26, aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
IM-2 touched down at approximately 11:30 a.m. March 6, more than 1,300 feet (400 meters) from its intended landing site
Although Intuitive Machines' Nova-C Hopper and Nokia's 4G/LTE Tipping Point technologies, funded in part by NASA, were only able to complete some objectives
The Nova-C lander ended up on its side with MAPP's garage wedged upside down under the lander, preventing MAPP's deployment to the lunar surface.
The Lunar Radiometer (LRAD) is integrated into Intuitive Machines' 70-centimetre-high propulsive hopping drone, Grace.
Altemus listed three primary contributors to IM-2's imperfect landing. Signal noise and distortion interference with the laser altimeter was one, but the other two were because of the terrain itself.