RobotRisk Autonomous Systems Incident & Risk Register
RobotRisk / Intuitive Machines / 2025-03-06
space robotics · mission-loss

IM-2 Athena lander topples over in shadowed crater, mission ends early

S4 · 03/06
2025 · 12:31 ET · Intuitive Machines · Mons Mouton, Moon

Record

CompanyIntuitive Machines
Categoryspace robotics
Typemission-loss
Date03/06
2025
Time of day12:31 ET
LocationMons Mouton, Moon
SeverityS4 (serious injury, total loss, or grounding)
Scale1 lander, total mission loss
Confidencehigh
VerificationYes - adversarially checked against the cited source
SourceSpaceNews

What happened

Intuitive Machines' second lander, Athena, touched down roughly 200 meters off-target near the lunar south pole and fell on its side inside a shadowed crater; loss of sunlight on its solar panels drained its batteries and ended the mission early.

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Comparable mission-loss events in space robotics

SevDateCompanyEvent
S42025-06-05ispaceHAKUTO-R Mission 2 (Resilience) lander crashes on second lunar landing attempt
S42024-03-01Maxar SpaceNASA cancels $2B OSAM-1 robotic satellite-servicing mission over Maxar performance
S42024-02-22Intuitive MachinesIM-1 Odysseus lander tips over on lunar touchdown
S42024-01-09AstroboticPeregrine lunar lander propellant leak forces abandonment of Moon landing
S42023-04-25ispaceHAKUTO-R Mission 1 lander crashes into Moon

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