Intuitive Machines Faces Challenges in Its Second Attempt to Land on the Moon.

The moon has become the focus of attention this week with the recent landing of a second spacecraft on its surface. The Intuitive Machines IM-2 mission successfully landed on Thursday, March 6, at 12:30 p.m. ET (9:30 a.m. PT) at Mons Mouton, an area near the lunar south pole. However, the landing procedure was not straightforward. Although the lander touched the surface at the scheduled time, its main engine did not shut down for several minutes, which could have caused dust elevation or even damage to the craft. Currently, the exact position of the lander on the surface has not been determined, leading to uncertainty about its orientation, whether it is on its side or improperly placed.

A positive sign for the Intuitive Machines team is that it has been confirmed that the solar panels are capturing energy, which could represent a favorable development. The mission, which launched on February 26 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, aimed to achieve the most southern landing in lunar history. This region is of great interest to researchers, as it is believed to contain water ice in craters that never receive direct sunlight, an aspect NASA wants to explore in future crewed missions.

This lunar landing marks Intuitive Machines' second successful attempt, as the company became the first private firm to achieve a soft landing on the moon last year with its lander, Odysseus. However, that event also faced difficulties, as the lander tilted upon landing on the uneven lunar terrain and ended up on its side, which limited its data collection capabilities since the solar panels had trouble capturing energy.

With the landing of Athena, Intuitive Machines joins Firefly Aerospace, whose Blue Ghost lander touched down on the moon on March 2. Both missions are part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program, which aims for private companies to deliver supplies and technology on the moon before sending humans under the Artemis program.

In other space news, a rocket of currently undetermined origin is expected to crash into the far side of the moon this week at a speed of 9,300 kilometers per hour. This space debris is estimated to weigh approximately three tons and will leave a significant crater on the lunar surface. Initially, it was thought to be a SpaceX Falcon 9, but this theory was dismissed by NASA. It was later identified that the impactor would be the booster from a Long March 3C, used during China's Chang’e 5-T1 mission in 2014.