The busy moon season continues unabated, as the second US spacecraft will attempt to land on the moon in less than a week.
The privately built robotic lander, Athena, was developed by Intuitive Machines. It was launched on Feb. 26 and has been approaching the moon for the past week.
Space.com reported:
“At roughly the size of a dishwasher, the six-legged craft aims to touch down at a site in the moon’s south polar region, then spend a week looking for the possible presence of water ice below the lunar surface.
The landing is scheduled for Thursday at 12:32 p.m. ET.
If successful, that would make Athena the second vehicle to touch down on the moon in five days. A separate robotic lander built by Firefly Aerospace, which is also based in Texas, landed there on Sunday, within a sprawling, 350-mile-wide basin on the near side of the moon (the side that always faces Earth).”
Both Athena and the Firefly lander are part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services program supporting the development of moon landers by private-sector companies.
“The Athena landing will be the second moonshot for Intuitive Machines. The company made history in February 2024 by becoming the first to land a commercially built spacecraft on the moon. Last year’s feat was also the first time an American spacecraft had touched down on the moon in more than 50 years — since the Apollo 17 mission in 1972.”
Both Intuitive Machines missions – Athena and Odysseus – target the moon’s south pole, where it is expected that water ice may be abundantly found.
“Water is considered a critical resource for future crewed missions to the moon, particularly for potential long-term stays there.
[…] This summer, a lander and tiny rover developed by a Japanese company called ispace will attempt to land on the moon, near the center of a vast basin close to the moon’s north pole called Mare Frigoris.”
WATCH LIVE 12:30pm ET:
Read more:
The post WATCH LIVE 12:30pm ET: Intuitive Machines’ Athena Is the Second Lunar Lander in Less Than a Week To Touch Down on the Surface of the Moon appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.