Observe the Intuitive Machines lander resting on its side on the moon once more.

      An artist’s illustration depicts Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C lunar lander at the Moon’s South Pole.

      American company Intuitive Machines made its second attempt at a lunar landing yesterday, targeting the Mons Mouton area near the Moon’s south pole for its Athena spacecraft. The lander successfully touched down 250 meters from its designated location, achieving the most southern landing on the Moon to date.

      However, executing the landing posed difficulties. Intuitive Machines has confirmed that, while Athena did land on the lunar surface, it is positioned on its side and cannot generate power using its solar panels. The exact cause of the lander's tipping remains unclear, but it might have hit the edge of a crater or a boulder, leading to its angled landing. The company shared an image showing the lander on its side with two of its legs elevated.

      The Intuitive Machines Athena lander is displayed on its side on the Moon’s surface.

      A similar issue occurred with Intuitive Machines’ previous lander, Odysseus, which was also tilted upon landing on the Moon. Although that lander managed to function for a while, Athena is unable to collect solar power, leading to an immediate end to its mission. Nonetheless, the lander managed to deploy some payloads before losing power.

      “With the sun’s direction, the solar panels’ orientation, and the extreme cold in the crater, Intuitive Machines does not anticipate that Athena will recharge. The mission has concluded, and our teams are continuing to analyze the data gathered throughout the mission,” the company stated in an update. “This region of the south pole experiences harsh solar angles and limited communications with Earth. It has been largely avoided due to its challenging terrain, but Intuitive Machines is hopeful that the insights gained from IM-2 will pave the way for future exploration in this area.”

      While this outcome may be disappointing for both Intuitive Machines and NASA, which worked with the company under its Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program, there has been a recent success on the lunar front. Firefly Aerospace successfully landed its Blue Ghost spacecraft on the Moon a few days ago, also part of NASA’s CLPS program, and it has since been deploying instruments and gathering data. Additionally, a private Japanese spacecraft, the ispace Resilience, is en route to the Moon and expected to attempt a lunar landing in June.

      Georgina has been a space writer at Digital Trends for six years, focusing on human space exploration and planetary science.

      Firefly’s Blue Ghost moon mission releases its most spectacular image yet. As the Firefly Aerospace mission, Blue Ghost, travels to the Moon, it captures striking images along the way, including breathtaking views of Earth in its rearview mirror. The company has unveiled its most impressive image yet, showcasing Earth and its reflection on the smooth surface of a solar panel on the spacecraft.

      The Firefly’s Blue Ghost lander captures an image of Earth reflected on its solar panel, with the Moon visible on the horizon above Earth. The lander also features Firefly’s X-band antenna and NASA’s LEXI payload on its top deck.

      In another update, a recent image from Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost mission reveals the spacecraft's first sighting of the Moon. Launched nearly two weeks ago, the spacecraft is on its way to a landing on the Moon, marking only the second commercial lunar landing to date. It carries a range of experiments and technology tests for NASA as part of the Artemis program, which aims to return humans to the Moon in the coming years.

      Since its launch, the spacecraft has orbited Earth, steadily adjusting its orbit through engine firings, preparing to set course for the Moon along a designated lunar transit path.

      The Blue Ghost mission from Firefly Aerospace was launched this morning, carrying various NASA science instruments and technology demonstrations. The launch took place via a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 1:11 a.m. ET on January 15.

      The mission aims to achieve a soft landing on the Moon, marking only the second instance of a private company successfully landing on the lunar surface, following the Intuitive Machines Odysseus landing last year. These two missions are part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services program, designed to facilitate the delivery of scientific equipment to the Moon ahead of planned human explorations for the Artemis mission.