Intuitive Machines Shares Slumped After Failed Second Moon Landing

JAKARTA The Intuitive Machines crashed 22% on Friday 7 March after the US space exploration company confirmed that the landing of its two lunar lander, Athens, ended on a tilt. This is similar to the first failed experiment last year.

The six-legged landing aircraft landed at the site about 160 km from the south pole of the moon, but Intuitive Machines ended the mission after the plane landed in a tilted position after completing several stages of the mission.

"Due to the direction of sunlight, the orientation of solar panels, and extreme temperatures in the crater, Intuitive Machines do not expect Athens to charge," the company said.

Shares of the Houston, Texas-based company previously fell 20% on Thursday after a more than double increase in the last 12 months.

Athens carries 11 payloads and scientific instruments, including drills to check for water ice, other resources on lunar soil, as well as the first mobile data center and network on the moon. Although the landing configuration is not ideal, Intuitive Machines managed to collect 250 megabytes of data for NASA, as reported by the space agency in their blog.

On the other hand, SpaceX's largest mega Starship rocket, the world's largest, also exploded on Thursday, March 6, minutes after its launch, spreading debris off the coasts of Florida and the Bahamas, in the second successive failure of the company led by Elon Musk.

As part of NASA's strategy to revive lunar exploration at lower costs, Intuitive Machines are one of several companies leading the return of the private sector to the moon by the US.

"Intuitive Machines may delay a planned third lunar landing mission for next year in NASA's Commercial Lunar Charge Service program, to wait for the launch of the company's communications satellite," CEO Estemus said on Thursday.

The space agency also provided the company with the fourth mission in 2027 to deliver six payloads to the moon that could help uncover the origin of water throughout the solar system.

Meanwhile, the Austin-based aerospace company Firefly Aerospace recently celebrated a successful lunar landing with its Blue Ghostlander, marking the most successful soft landing by private companies so far.

"Although this oblique landing may have an impact on Intuitive credibility, we still believe that they are one of the companies most prepared to take advantage of the industry," said Andres Sheppard, senior analyst at Cantor total. "In our opinion, this does not indicate that the company is now in a precarious situation."