Houston-based company, Intuitive Machines, launched its second lunar lander named Athena on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on Wednesday. This mission is a part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services program and aims to land closer to the moon’s south pole than any previous spacecraft. Athena carries a drill designed to extract lunar soil for analysis. Additionally, the lander has three robotic rovers and a small flying hopper that will be deployed post-landing.
Intuitive Machines’ previous successful lander, Odysseus, communicated with Earth despite toppling over due to a landing software oversight. The company’s engineers have since fixed the issue and tested the laser altimeter repeatedly. Athena is almost identical in design to Odysseus, with various other spacecraft sharing the Falcon 9 rocket for their journey to space, including Lunar Trailblazer, Odin, and CHIMERA GEO 1.
Despite a minor hiccup during Athena’s launch, the spacecraft is on course for a successful landing in March. Other commercial landers, including Blue Ghost from Firefly Aerospace and Resilience by Ispace of Japan, have also been launched towards the moon. Blue Ghost is set to land in March, whereas Resilience is expected to reach the moon in May. Athena’s mission duration is expected to last less than one lunar day, with an eclipse event causing temporary darkness around March 14. Despite this challenge, the solar-powered lander is equipped to survive and continue its mission studies on the moon.
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