Mission Summary
IM-2 was Intuitive Machines’ second lunar lander, the spacecraft Athena, sent to set down closer to the Moon’s south pole than any mission before it. Launched February 27, 2025 under NASA’s commercial lunar program, it aimed for Mons Mouton, a plateau near the pole, carrying NASA science and a drill built to hunt for ice.
Athena reached the surface on March 6, 2025, landing farther south than any spacecraft before it. But like its predecessor, it came to rest on its side, this time inside a cold, shadowed crater where its solar panels could not gather enough light.
With little power and poor positioning, the mission was short. Intuitive Machines gathered some data for NASA before calling an early end the next day. Athena’s landing pushed humanity’s reach toward the lunar south pole, even as the repeated tip-over showed how hard a stable polar landing remains.
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