The Athena Moon lander arrived on the Moon on March 6, 2025. Upon landing, it suffered a mishap that sent the lander housing the Intuitive Machines' IM-2 mission rovers. Is NASA's attempt to establish a lunar mobile network already over?
The Athena Moon lander was slated to arrive on the Moon on March 6, 2025. It was designed to carry the Intuitive Machines' IM-2 mission rovers that were outfitted with Nokia's 4G LTE connection to establish a lunar mobile network.
Upon reaching the Moon, the Athena lander began its landing procedure as planned. Trouble arose when the lander ended up landing 800 feet away from its designated touchdown area. Landing in the incorrect position, the Athena lander failed to remain upright on the terrain that it was not originally designed for and soon flopped over onto its side. This kept the spacecraft from being unable to operate as it was intended, keeping the rovers from being able to be deployed.
Nicky Fox, associate administrator for science at NASA, commented on the mishap by saying, "Our targeted landing site near the lunar South Pole is one of the most scientifically interesting, and geographically challenging locations, on the Moon. 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."
Despite things going completely to plan, the Intuitive Machines project was a partial success, able to complete some instrument checkouts and collect 250 megabytes of data to aid in NASA's endeavor.
What comes next for NASA after the Athena Moon lander?
Though the Intuitive Machines mission had an unforeseen hiccup that ultimately hindered the desired result, it was still enough of a success to get NASA useful data that will aid them going forward in their pursuits of establishing a mobile network on the Moon.
Joel Kearns, deputy associate administrator for Exploration in the Science Mission Directorate at NASA, commented this in regards to the mission's unexpected outcome, "Empowering American companies to deliver science and tech to the Moon on behalf of NASA both produces scientific results and continues development of a lunar economy. While we’re disappointed in the outcome of the IM-2 mission, we remain committed to supporting our commercial vendors as they navigate the very difficult task of landing and operating on the Moon."
NASA has stated that they plan on issuing another series of missions planned in the coming few years, with the Intuitive Machines IM-3 in 2026, and the Intuitive Machines IM-4 in 2027.
Though it didn't pan out quite the way they wanted it, NASA remains committed to seeing their vision of expanding to Mars brought to life one day. Only time will tell if their future projects will bear more fruit. But if anything is assured, it's that they'll keep pushing until something worthwhile is born from their efforts.