Private lunar lander runs into trouble and may have fallen over

Hours after the landing, Intuitive Machines CEO Steve Altemus said there was conflicting data about how Athena landed and whether it was on its side

Cape Canaveral: A privately owned lunar lander touched down on the moon with a drill, drone and rovers for NASA and other customers Thursday, but quickly ran into trouble and may have fallen over.

Intuitive Machines said it was uncertain whether its Athena lander was upright near the moon’s south pole — standing 15 feet tall — or lying sideways like its first spacecraft from a year ago. Controllers rushed to turn off some of the lander’s equipment to conserve power while trying to determine what went wrong. It was the second moon landing this week by a Texas company under NASA’s commercial lunar delivery programme.

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Sunday’s touchdown was a complete success. The company’s newest Athena lander dropped out of lunar orbit as planned. The hourlong descent appeared to go well until the final approach when the laser navigation system began acting up. It took a while for Mission Control to confirm touchdown.

“We’re on the surface,” reported mission director and co-founder Tim Crain. A few minutes later, he repeated, “It looks like we’re down … We are working to evaluate exactly what our orientation is on the surface.”

Hours after the landing, Intuitive Machines CEO Steve Altemus said there was conflicting data about how Athena landed and whether it was on its side. The lander was near the intended target site, but a sweep by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter in the coming days will confirm its location and orientation, he said.