New lunar lander Athena to land on the moon Thursday

Mar 4, 2025 - 20:34

A portion of a spacecraft at right, the moon at left, and a small, colorful gibbous Earth in between. — The lunar lander Athena captured this selfie as it orbited the moon on March 3, 2025. Earth is the small world in the distance. Athena will make its landing attempt on March 6, 2025. Find out how to watch here. Image via Intuitive Machines.

Watch Athena land on the moon

Intuitive Machines’ lunar lander Athena is slated to land on the moon on Thursday, March 6, 2025. The coverage will begin at 10:30 a.m. CST (16:30 UTC) with the landing expected around 11:32 a.m. CST. You can watch at NASA+ or on the Intuitive Machines IM-2 mission page.

The moon is getting crowded. Earlier this week, Blue Ghost successfully landed on the moon in Mare Crisium. And Japan’s Hakuto-R mission 2 is aiming for Mare Frigoris in the coming months.

An image of the full moon with 3 landing sites labeled. — View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Joel Weatherly in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, captured this image of the full moon in January 2025 and added labels for some of the upcoming moon landings. Thanks, Joel!

Lunar lander Athena has successful launch

At 7:17 p.m. EST on February 26, 2025, Intuitive Machines’ second mission successfully launched toward the moon on a Falcon 9 rocket from Florida. The mission will spend a week in space before touching down on the lunar surface near the south pole. One of the main missions of Athena is to explore the moon, looking for water. This mission is a step toward returning humans to the moon with Artemis.

An arcing light from launch until it tapers out in the dark sky. — Greg Diesel Walck captured the launch of Intuitive Machine’s 2nd mission, with lunar lander Athena, as it blasted off from Kennedy Space Center on February 26, 2025.

A yellow fireball with a long red tail in a black sky. — View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Paul Kimmelman in Wimauma, Florida, caught the launch of Intuitive Machines’ second mission to the moon on February 26, 2025. Paul wrote: “The 2nd Nova-C lunar lander launch from Cape Canaveral last night.” Thanks, Paul! The design of both the Athena and Odysseus lunar landers is what Intuitive Machines calls Nova-C.

Lunar lander Athena launches to the moon

Intuitive Machines has sent its 2nd mission moonward. The newest lunar lander, named Athena, blasted off on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from launch complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on February 26, 2025. Athena is one of multiple lunar lander missions currently headed for the moon. CEO Steve Altemus of Intuitive Machines, headquartered in Houston, Texas, said:

Humanity has never witnessed three lunar landers en route to the moon at the same time, and Athena is ready to rise to the occasion.

On January 15, 2025, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost and Japan’s ispace RESILIENCE lunar landers into space from Florida. Blue Ghost should arrive at the moon on March 2, 2025. Meanwhile, it should take Athena about one week to reach the moon. Its tentative landing date is March 6, 2025. Also, RESILIENCE is taking a more leisurely route; it should reach the moon in May.

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lunar lander Athena: Inside a rocket body, a spacecraft with an orange-foil wrapped payload and 4 landing legs. — The lunar lander Athena – Intuitive Machines’ newest mission to the moon – launched aboard a Falcon 9 rocket on February 26, 2025. Image via SpaceX/ NASA.

Athena follows Odysseus

Athena is following in the footsteps of Odysseus – or Odie – which Intuitive Machines launched last year. Odie touched down on the moon on February 22, 2024. It toppled over, however, due to a broken leg but sent back data for a week from the lunar surface. Notably, it was the first American spacecraft to make a soft landing on the moon’s surface since the final Apollo mission touched down in 1972.

What is the goal of Athena?

Athena is a part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program. This program is a stepping stone to return humans to the moon with the Artemis program. Intuitive Machines said:

The science and technology payloads sent to the moon’s surface as part of CLPS intend to lay the foundation for future human missions and a long-term human presence on the lunar surface.

Specifically, Athena is aiming for Mons Mounton, an area near the moon’s south pole. Why are all the recent and future missions interested in the lunar south pole? Because scientists think there’s water ice there, an important resource for human missions.

In order to hunt for water, Athena carries two rovers, a “hopper” and a drill. Intuitive Machines said Athena will:

… demonstrate lunar mobility, resource prospecting and analysis of volatile substances from subsurface materials, a critical step toward uncovering water sources beyond Earth.