US Private Lunar Probe Lands on Moon... Status Unknown

The second unmanned lunar lander of the U.S. private company Intuitive Machines has landed on the lunar surface, but its status remains unknown.

Intuitive Machines' unmanned lunar lander "Athena (Nova-C)" attempted to land at 12:31 PM (Eastern Time) on the 6th on the plateau "Mons Mouton," about 160 km away from the lunar south pole.

Intuitive Machines' unmanned lunar probe 'Athena' Photo by AFP Yonhap News

According to NASA officials who broadcast the progress of Athena's lunar landing mission, communication problems occurred after the scheduled landing time, and the landing status is currently unknown.

An Intuitive Machines representative said 20 minutes after the landing attempt, "Athena is on the lunar surface," adding, "We are trying to determine the orientation of the spacecraft."

NASA and Intuitive Machines announced that they have stopped the landing broadcast and will hold a press briefing about three hours later.

Athena was launched from Kennedy Space Center in Florida last month on the 26th. It is an unmanned spacecraft measuring 4.8 meters in height and 1.6 meters in diameter.

Athena's landing site is the closest to the lunar south pole in the history of lunar exploration missions. If the landing is successful, it will mark a new milestone in U.S. lunar exploration. The interior of the lunar south pole crater has never been reached by humans. Scientists believe there is a high possibility of ice existing in the permanently shadowed regions where sunlight never reaches.

This lunar landing mission, the second conducted by Intuitive Machines under contract with NASA, is part of the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program. NASA has judged that it is more efficient to have private companies compete and develop lunar explorers rather than developing them directly, and has been running the CLPS program since 2018.

Previously, in January last year, Astrobotic launched the lunar lander "Peregrine" for the first time but failed.

In February last year, Intuitive Machines partially succeeded in landing a spacecraft of the same model as Athena, called "Odyssey," near the lunar south pole. However, one leg broke during the landing process, causing problems with solar charging and data transmission, which shortened its lifespan.

Additionally, Firefly Aerospace launched the lunar lander "Blue Ghost" on the 15th of last month and successfully landed on the large basin "Mare Crisium" (Sea of Crises) located in the northeastern quadrant of the lunar near side on the 2nd.

Athena, Intuitive Machines' second lunar lander, carries equipment to explore lunar water and ice, including NASA's Polar Resources Ice Mining Experiment 1 (PRIME-1), the drone and robot "Micro-Nova Hopper," and the ultra-small lunar rover "Yaoki" developed by the Japanese venture company Daimon. However, if the upright landing failed, it would be difficult to use these devices.