An artist’s impression of the Athena spacecraft on the moon
NASA
A groundbreaking private space mission is set to launch to the moon this week, with the aim of reaching the southernmost point ever explored on the lunar surface. The Athena spacecraft, developed by Intuitive Machines based in the US, is scheduled for liftoff aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. The launch is slated for 12:17am GMT on 27 February (7:17pm EST on 26 February). Alongside Athena, several other missions will also be onboard the same rocket, including an expedition for asteroid mining.
Intuitive Machines made history last year by becoming the first private company to successfully land on the moon with its Odysseus spacecraft, which touched down near the moon’s south pole. Despite a successful landing, Odysseus encountered challenges as it tipped over, impacting the data collection capabilities of its instruments and cutting the mission short.
The upcoming mission with Athena is aiming for a cleaner landing as it descends towards the lunar surface by the end of March. The designated landing site is in close proximity to the moon’s tallest mountain, Mons Mouton, located approximately 60 kilometers from the south pole. This particular landing attempt will mark the most southerly approach to the moon ever undertaken. Following a successful landing, Athena is expected to operate for a couple of weeks, equivalent to a single lunar day, before the onset of the lunar night leads to a loss of power.
Athena will be equipped with over 10 instruments from both NASA and other private companies. In addition to Athena, the Falcon 9 rocket will also carry three other spacecraft on its journey. These include an asteroid-prospecting spacecraft from AstroForge, set to survey a space rock for potential mineable metal later in the year. Furthermore, NASA’s Lunar Trailblazer satellite will be onboard to map water on the moon and identify future landing sites. The third spacecraft from Epic Aerospace is designed to facilitate orbit transitions for other satellites.
Upon landing, a NASA instrument onboard Athena will drill up to a meter into the lunar soil to collect samples for analysis, specifically targeting water deposits and other chemicals. NASA aims to ascertain the presence of these resources in quantities substantial enough to support future missions, including the agency’s planned crewed Artemis moon landings scheduled for 2027.
Several small rovers are slated for deployment near the landing site, including the Yaoki rover from Japanese company Dymon, which is the lightest lunar rover ever at 0.5 kg. The Mobile Autonomous Prospecting Platform (MAPP) from Lunar Outpost, weighing 10 kg, will explore and map the landing site in 3D, as well as test a 4G phone network provided by Nokia in the lunar environment. Additionally, a miniature robot from researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology will ride atop MAPP, taking temperature readings as the rover navigates the terrain.
Intuitive Machines will also release a hopping robot named Grace, about the size of a suitcase, to perform a series of four hops reaching up to 100 meters in height and covering a distance of approximately 200 meters. Grace will land in a deep crater with permanently shadowed regions, believed to contain ice deposits. This mission will provide valuable insights as Grace scans the crater bottom, located around 20 meters below the surface, for approximately 45 minutes before hopping back out.
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