Intuitive Machines Aims for Repeat Lunar Success with Athena Lander

Athena Lander: A Second Chance for Intuitive Machines

Intuitive Machines, a Houston-based company, is gearing up to make history once again by landing a second robot on the moon. After the success of its first lander, Odysseus, which touched down on the moon in February 2023, the company is now preparing for a follow-up mission with its Athena lander. Launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on March 1, Athena is set to land on March 6 near Mons Mouton, a region approximately 100 miles from the moon’s south pole. This location is closer to the south pole than any previous spacecraft has landed, marking a significant step in lunar exploration.

The Athena mission represents a critical opportunity for Intuitive Machines to correct the issues that plagued its debut mission. While Odysseus successfully landed on the moon and communicated with Earth, it toppled onto its side after landing. This mishap was due to an oversight in disabling a safety switch for the laser altimeter, a key tool for guiding the lander to the moon’s surface. Engineers at Intuitive Machines had to rewrite the landing software on the fly, but a missed software update left the lander partially blind during descent, relying on incomplete data to navigate. That Odysseus managed to land safely despite these challenges speaks to the resilience of the spacecraft’s design and the ingenuity of its creators.

A Heavier Payload and New Discoveries

The Athena lander is nearly identical in design to its predecessor, utilizing Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C lander design. However, this mission carries great scientific significance, as it is equipped with a payload designed to expand humanity’s understanding of the moon. The primary payload is a drill developed for NASA under its Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program. This drill will dig up to three feet below the moon’s surface, extracting lunar soil in increments of four inches and depositing it into a pile on the surface.

The soil extracted by this drill will be analyzed by an instrument called a mass spectrometer, which will search for compounds like frozen water that can easily transform into gases. Frozen water on the moon is a critical resource for future lunar exploration, as it can be converted into oxygen for breathing and hydrogen for fuel. While Athena’s drill is a groundbreaking tool, it is not the only innovation onboard. The lander also carries three robotic rovers and a small flying "hopper," all of which will be deployed after landing to explore the moon’s surface in greater detail.

Robotic Explorers: From Rovers to Hoppers

Among the robotic explorers aboard Athena is the Mobile Autonomous Prospecting Platform (MAPP), a rover developed as part of a NASA-financed test of the moon’s first cellphone network. Nokia, the telecommunications giant, won NASA’s contract to test this lunar network but needed a way to deploy at least one antenna at a distance from the lander. To address this, Nokia partnered with Lunar Outpost, a company that built the rover. Approximately the size of a small dog, MAPP will serve as a mobile platform for Nokia’s antenna, ensuring connectivity across the lunar surface.

In addition to MAPP, Athena will deploy a tiny rover called AstroAnt, developed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. This diminutive robot, mounted on MAPP’s flat surface, will crawl across the lunar terrain, conducting its own research. Another rover, built by the Japanese company Dymon, is slightly larger than a Mac mini computer and will also contribute to the mission’s scientific goals.

Perhaps the most exciting innovation on Athena is the "hopper," a rocket-powered craft designed by Intuitive Machines under a separate NASA contract. Unlike helicopters, which cannot fly on the moon due to its lack of atmosphere, the hopper will use thrusters to traverse long distances. This technology could revolutionize lunar exploration, much like how NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter has transformed how scientists study Mars. The hopper will also carry one of Nokia’s cellphone antennas, extending the network’s reach. Its ultimate goal is to explore one of the moon’s permanently shadowed craters, areas that have never been illuminated by sunlight and may hold secrets about the moon’s composition.

Challenges Ahead: Eclipse and Competition

The Athena mission will face its share of challenges, including a brief eclipse on March 14. During this event, the Earth will pass between the sun and the moon, plunging the lunar surface into darkness for a few minutes. As the lander is solar-powered, it will have to rely on its battery reserves during this period. However, with careful planning, the spacecraft is expected to survive the eclipse unscathed.

In addition to the eclipse, Athena is part of a growing field of commercial lunar exploration. Launched alongside Athena on the Falcon 9 rocket are three other spacecraft: NASA’s Lunar Trailblazer, Odin from California-based AstroForge, and CHIMERA GEO 1 from San Francisco’s Epic Aerospace. These spacecraft are capitalizing on the extra payload space available on the rocket, demonstrating the cost-effectiveness of shared launches.

The Bigger Picture: Lunar Exploration in 2024

The Athena mission is part of a wave of commercial lunar exploration that continues to gain momentum in 2024. With two other private landers, Blue Ghost from Firefly Aerospace and Resilience from Japan’s ispace, already on their way to the moon, this year is shaping up to be a historic period for lunar research. Blue Ghost, like Athena, is part of NASA’s CLPS program and is expected to land on Mare Crisium on March 2, just days before Athena touches down. Meanwhile, Resilience, also known as the Hakuto-R Mission 2, is taking a more circuitous route to the moon and is expected to arrive in May. Its mission will focus on the Sea of Cold (Mare Frigoris), a region in the moon’s northern hemisphere, marking Ispace’s second attempt at lunar exploration following a failed landing in 2023.

With so many spacecraft heading to the moon, the competition for lunar exploration is heating up. Intuitive Machines hopes that Athena will not only correct the mistakes of Odysseus but also demonstrate the reliability and efficiency of its Nova-C design. As more companies and governments turn their attention to the moon, the success of these missions will pave the way for future endeavors, from resource extraction to human settlements.

Conclusion: A New Era of Lunar Exploration

The Athena mission represents a pivotal moment in the history of space exploration. By leveraging private companies like Intuitive Machines, NASA is achieving its lunar goals in a cost-effective manner. Athena’s drill, rovers, and hopper are just the beginning of a new wave of exploratory tools that will uncover the moon’s secrets and enable future human colonization.

However, Athena is not just about science; it is also an opportunity for Intuitive Machines to prove itself as a leader in commercial space exploration. Having weathered the setbacks of the Odysseus mission, the company has demonstrated its ability to adapt and improve. With Athena, it has the chance to deliver a flawless landing and set a new benchmark for lunar exploration.

As the world watches, the moon is once again becoming a frontier for innovation and discovery. For Intuitive Machines, Athena is more than just a spacecraft—it’s a step toward a future where humans and robots coexist on the lunar surface, exploring and building together.