If three makes a trend, then we’re officially in the era of American commercial lunar landings.
Intuitive Machines became the latest company to reach the Moon on Thursday when its Athena lander touched down near the lunar south pole. But it’s unclear if the lander is upright and ready to work, or if “off-nominal” positioning will interfere with the lander’s slate of missions, which includes searching for lunar water ice.
“We think that we’ve been very successful to this point, however I do have to tell you that we don’t believe we’re in the correct attitude on the surface of the Moon yet again,” CEO Steve Altemus said at a press conference on Thursday.
Some data suggests the lander is on its side, while conflicting info suggests it’s upright, according to Altemus. Intuitive Machines is waiting for photos that will show how things stand—and the status of the payloads onboard. The team will then work with NASA to prioritize science and research missions for the mission, which is set to last ~10 days.
“We’ll figure out what the mission profile will look [like]. It will be off-nominal because we’re not getting everything we asked for in terms of power generation, communications, etc,” Altemus said.
Context: Intuitive Machines became the first commercial company to soft land on the Moon with its Odysseus lander in February 2024. But on its way down, one leg of the spacecraft caught on a rock, causing the lander to lean over. Still, the mission was declared a success by NASA—a customer on the mission under the CLPS program—and most of the payloads worked.
IM-2 marks the second commercial Moon landing in just a week, after Firefly’s Blue Ghost touched down early Sunday morning.
What’s next: NASA has awarded IM contracts for two more future CLPS missions to the Moon:
- IM-3, set to launch in early 2026, is expected to visit a region near the lunar equator.
- IM-4 is expected to meet up with Athena on the south pole.
