landed on its side only a day ago, reassembling its first attempt.
The lander that touched down at a site about 100 miles (160 km) from the moon’s south pole, however, the Intuitive Machines ended the mission as the spacecraft wound up on its side after completing several mission milestones.
The company also said, “Given the direction of the sun, the orientation of the solar panels, and the extreme cold temperatures in the crater, Intuitive Machines does not expect Athena to recharge.”.
Even more so, the shares from the Huston, Texas-based company had also closed 20% lower this Thursday after being more than double in the past 12 months.
It is also worth mentioning that Athena carried 11 payloads and scientific instruments, including a drill that tested water ice and lunar soil for resources and the first data center and cellular network from the moon.
Yet, despite the lander’s configuration, Intuitive Machines was able to collect just 250 megabytes of data for NASA, reported the space agency in a blog post.
Nicky Fox, an associate administrator for science at NASA Headquarters in Washington, also added “Each success and setback are opportunities to learn and grow, and we will use this lesson to propel our efforts to advance science, exploration, and commercial development as we get ready for human exploration of Mars.”.
Separately, the SpaceX Starship mega rocket exploded on Thursday, only minutes after its launch, raining debris off the coast of Florida and the Bahamas, leading to what is known to be the Elon Musk-led company’s second straight failure.
As part of NASA’s strategy for reviving lunar exploration at smaller costs, Intuitive is among several companies that have led to the private sector's return to the moon by the U.S.
The CEO of Intuitive, Altemus said on Thursday that the delay might also come as the third lunar landing mission that is set for next year under the NASA Commercial Lunar Payload Services program, which waits for the deployment of a company communications satellite.
Andres Sheppard, a senior analyst from Cantor Fitzgerald, said that “It (sideways landing) may have an impact on (Intuitive's) credibility, but we still think they are one of the better positioned companies to capitalize on the industry,", also adding “In our view at least, it's not indicative of the company now being in a dire situation”, reported Reuters.
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