The Houston-based company that was set to deliver a historic water-hunting mission to the lunar south pole says its Athena lander is dead on the moon.

In a dramatic turn of events, NASA's Athena lunar lander, part of the IM-2 mission, has stopped functioning after a challenging landing on the Moon. The lander, designed by Intuitive Machines, touched down approximately 250 meters from its intended target in the Mons Mouton region near the lunar south pole.

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.