Intuitive Machines’ Athena Lander Set for Historic Lunar Touchdown

A robotic lander named Athena is poised to make its final descent to the moon’s surface, potentially marking the second lunar touchdown for a US company this week. Houston-based Intuitive Machines, which last year became the first private-sector company to soft-land a vehicle on the moon, announced that its Athena spacecraft is on track to touch down around 11:30 a.m. CT (12:30 p.m. ET) Thursday, according to a recent social media update from the company.

Historic Lunar Missions: Athena and Blue Ghost

If successful, the 15-foot-tall (4.6-meter-tall) Athena will join a lunar lander developed by another Texas-based company — Firefly Aerospace of Austin suburb Cedar Park — on the surface of the moon. Firefly’s Blue Ghost vehicle made a safe, upright touchdown early Sunday morning. Both Athena and Blue Ghost are expected to operate on the moon’s near side, but the two spacecraft will be perched roughly 2,000 miles (3,200 kilometers) apart, with Blue Ghost near the lunar equator and Athena situated close to the south pole — closer than any astronaut or vehicle has ventured before.

The Challenges of Lunar Landings

Lunar landings are exceedingly difficult feats. About half of all attempts, including those by government space agencies and commercial companies, have ended in failure. Early Thursday morning, Athena completed an engine burn that set it on a trajectory out of lunar orbit and toward the surface, as reported by Intuitive Machines. The lander then began coasting for about an hour.

Final Descent and Navigation

Athena will head into its final descent later this morning, relying on sensors and cameras to navigate the crater-riddled terrain. During this critical phase, the vehicle must rapidly shed speed, reducing its velocity by about 4,000 miles per hour (1,800 meters per second) before hitting the ground. The moon’s south pole is considered crucial to the modern space race because scientists believe it is home to vast stores of water ice.

The Importance of Water Ice

The ice could be converted to drinking water, breathable air, or even rocket fuel for missions that journey deeper into the cosmos. Athena is slated to land at a 60-mile-wide (100-kilometer-wide) plateau called the Shackleton Crater, which lies about 100 miles (160 kilometers) from the lunar south pole. Once on the surface, the lander will get to work.

Athena’s Scouting Mission

Athena is on a scouting mission of sorts. The vehicle will use an array of robotic equipment — including a drill, hopper, and rover — to scour the nearby area for confirmation that water ice is stored across the region. Before Intuitive Machines made history last year with its first lander, affectionately called Odie, only a handful of government space programs had successfully achieved a lunar landing. The United States, China, India, Japan, and the former Soviet Union were in that exclusive club.

Lessons from Previous Missions

However, Odie’s trip, which also ventured near the south pole region, wasn’t without its challenges. Before landing, mission teams discovered that the laser rangefinder designed to help navigate the lunar terrain and precisely measure altitude was not correctly hardwired. This misstep forced the company to rely on an experimental NASA payload, which fortuitously happened to be on board, for navigation.

As the world watches, the Athena lander prepares for its historic mission, potentially paving the way for future lunar exploration and the quest for water resources beyond Earth.