This orientation prevented the lander's solar panels from capturing enough sunlight, and Intuitive Machines declared Athena dead on March 7. (The company's first moon lander, named Odysseus, also tipped over during its historic February 2024 touchdown but was able to operate for longer on the lunar surface.)

Chris Stott, founder of St. Petersburg’s Lonestar Data Holdings, relayed the news to the rest of the team on video call. An unmanned lunar lander named Athena, carrying the company’s 8-terabyte data center,

A day after a live webcast captured a somber-looking mission control room in the minutes surrounding its planned Thursday landing time of 12:32 p.m., the company has confirmed on its website that its IM-2 Nova-C class lunar lander is on its side — a fate that matches its first lander, IM-1, that toppled upon landing in Feb. 2024.