IM-2 lunar lander mission set for launch. Graphics show what's on board
An ambitious lunar mission is set to lift off today for a landing in March.
The Intuitive Machines-2 (IM-2) mission carries Athena, a Nova-C class lunar lander, and is headed for the moon's south pole with a payload of gear intended to drill into the lunar regolith in search of highly valued water ice. Such ice holds promise for future crews in its potential for conversion to drinkable water and oxygen.
The mission is a joint effort between Houston-based space exploration company Intuitive Machines and NASA as part of the agency's $2.6 billion Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative. It's also a return to the moon for Intuitive Machines, whose IM-1 lander, Odysseus, became the first American spacecraft since the Apollo era to land on the moon in February 2024. Though Odysseus tipped over on touchdown, it continued to send mission data back to Earth.
IM-2 is set to launch no earlier than 7:02 p.m. today from Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
When will IM-2 reach the moon?
If everything goes as planned, IM-2 will reach the moon around March 6 and touch down on Mons Mouton near the lunar south pole. Here's a look at the mission profile:
How big is the Athena lunar lander?
The Athena lander will deploy drills, a mass spectrometer – a chemical analysis device – near the moon's south pole to search for lunar water ice. It also will launch the small Mobile Autonomous Prospecting Platform rover, the Micro Nova Hopper named Grace, and NASA's PRIME-1 drill suite.
IM-2 joins other lunar landers
With its launch, IM-2 would become the third lander simultaneously headed for the moon, along with Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost 1 and ispace's Resilience, both of which are in lunar orbit after launching together Jan. 15 aboard the same Falcon 9 rocket.
“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,” Intuitive Machines CEO Steve Altemus said in a statement.
Contributing: George Petras, Eric Lagatta
SOURCES Intuitive Machines, NASA