Intuitive Machines is set to launch its second lunar lander, named Athena, no earlier than February 26, 2025. The mission will utilize a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket for liftoff, marking another significant step in the company’s partnership with NASA under the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program.
Athena is designed to travel to the moon, with an expected landing attempt around March 6. This mission follows the company’s successful first commercial moon landing last year with the Odysseus spacecraft.
The Nova-C lander, Athena, will carry various NASA instruments, including a drill and mass spectrometer. These instruments aim to conduct one of the first on-site demonstrations of resource utilization on the moon. Specifically, they will analyze volatiles in the soil at the lunar South Pole.
This upcoming mission also presents Intuitive Machines with another opportunity to achieve a stable landing. The previous lander, Odysseus, while it did land successfully, ended up on its side after touchdown.
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