Intuitive Machines made history last year as the first private company to put a robot on the Moon, although the triumph was marred by the lander tipping onto its side.
Now, the Houston-based firm is gearing up for a second attempt, determined to achieve a perfect touchdown.
Intuitive Machines’ hexagonal-shaped lander, Athena, is set to launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket during a window that opens at 7:02 pm (0002 GMT) Wednesday from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, according to an official spaceflight advisory.
If all goes well, it will touch down around March 6 at a spot called the Mons Mouton plateau, a site closer to the lunar south pole than any previously targeted.
Athena carries scientific instruments, including a drill to search for ice beneath the surface and a unique hopping drone named Grace after a famous computer scientist, Grace Hopper. It is designed to traverse the Moon’s rugged inclines, boulders, and craters a valuable capability to support future crewed missions.
Also aboard is a small rover, which will test a lunar cellular network provided by Nokia Bell Labs by relaying commands, images, and video between the lander, rover, and hopper.
Until recently, soft lunar landings were achieved only by a handful of well-funded national space agencies.
Now, the US is working to make private missions routine through the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program, a public-private collaboration aimed at delivering key NASA hardware to the surface at a fraction of the cost of traditional missions. The effort supports the broader Artemis program, which aims to return astronauts to the Moon and apply lessons learned there to prepare for reaching Mars.
“This is a really sophisticated mission enabled by the partnerships between the government and US industry,” said Joel Kearns, NASA’s deputy associate administrator for exploration.
