It's a haunting photo, but at least it has answers: For the second time in as many years, a private Intuitive Machines lunar lander has tipped over on the moon.
After a day of uncertainty following a harrowing moon landing attempt, the company Intuitive Machines sealed the fate of its latest lunar probe Athena. The spacecraft, which attempted a historic landing in rugged terrain near the south pole of the moon on Thursday (March 6), had toppled on its side inside a frigid crater.
A photo taken by the Athena lander on the moon showed as much. It looked toward Earth, shining blue and half-lit over the moon's horizon, which was canted to the right as two of the Athena lander's legs jutted into the sky after its touchdown in the Mons Mouton region of the lunar south pole. With the lander unable to generate power, Intuitive Machines declared its mission over.
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