SpaceX will launch Intuitive Machine’s Athena lunar lander toward the moon’s south pole on Wednesday, marking the latest mission by Intuitive Machine to explore the moon’s surface after completing the first-ever lunar landing by a private company last year.
The spacecraft will travel for about a week before landing near the moon’s south pole.
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled to launch from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 7:17 p.m. EST while equipped with Intuitive Machine’s Athena lander.
NASA will livestream the launch on NASA+ starting at 6:32 p.m., and Intuitive Machines will post updates on its X account.
The lander will travel for roughly a week before landing on Mons Mouton—a plateau near the moon’s south pole—on March 6, according to NASA.
The lander includes a drill, a robotic “hopper” and a rover, each of which will explore the moon’s surface and whether there is evidence of water, as well as a 4G communications system developed by Nokia, which says the cellular network could be used to relay information between different spacecraft on the moon.
During its flight, Athena will also deploy a NASA-made probe that will orbit the moon and map out water distribution on its surface, in addition to a smaller spacecraft developed by AstroForge that will travel into deep space to scout for asteroids with precious metals.
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The rover—named MAPP, or Mobile Autonomous Prospecting Platform—will roam around the Athena lander’s landing site and take 3D images of the moon’s terrain, according to Intuitive Machines. Another smaller rover will navigate around the MAPP rover’s roof to check temperature readings. The “hopper,” nicknamed “Grace,” will explore about 650 feet of ground while exploring a nearby crater in search of deposits of ice and the possible presence of hydrogen.
SpaceX scheduled an eighth test flight for its Starship rocket for Feb. 28. The rocket—considered the largest ever—lost connection and experienced a “rapid unscheduled disassembly” during its seventh test flight last month. SpaceX said it has made “several hardware and operational changes” to the spacecraft, after an investigation revealed the rocket’s disassembly was caused by an oxygen leak, flashes and “sustained fires” in its aft section. Two other landers are expected to touch down on the moon soon: Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost spacecraft could land as soon as this weekend and Japan-based ispace’s RESILIENCE lander is expected to land in the spring.
Intuitive Machines landed its Odysseus lunar lander on the moon’s surface in February 2024, marking the first American spacecraft to land on the moon in over 50 years. The mission was not entirely successful, however, as the company lost communication with Odysseus before its landing. At the time, Intuitive Machines said the spacecraft was “upright” and “starting to send data,” though it was later revealed Odysseus had landed on its side. The spacecraft remained in stable condition, but its sideways landing blocked exposure to sunlight for the Odysseus’ solar panels, preventing it from recharging its batteries. An investigation by the company revealed engineers failed to flip a switch that would have enabled lasers to guide the spacecraft to a flat landing.