Washington DC : US space agency NASA is all set for a landing on the moon's south pole on March 6. This mission will join the growing fleet of spacecraft missions, including from India, mapping the lunar surface, searching for water, and conducting scientific experiments.
Athena, the moon lander developed by Houston-based private company Intuitive Machines, will attempt to land near the Mons Mouton landing site on the moon's South Pole. The site is distinct from the 'Shiv Shakti' touchdown site of ISRO's Chandrayaan- 3 spacecraft, which marked a significant milestone as India became, on August 2023, the first country to land on the Moon's South Pole.
Athena had entered the lunar orbit earlier this week after being launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on February 26. According to an update by Intuitive Machines on Athena's mission, a landing attempt is scheduled for 11:32 a.m. EST, which translates to around 10 pm on Thursday Indian Standard Time. As the lander circled the moon, it beamed down stunning photographs of the lunar surface.
"Athena continues to be in excellent health in Low Lunar Orbit (LLO). She's completed 24 of her 39 orbits, waiting for the sun to rise on her Mons Mouton landing site," Intuitive Machines posted on X on March 5.
Mons Mouton is near the lunar south pole, where NASA wants to study water ice and other local resources that could be used to support longer-term crewed missions to the moon.
Athena's mission known as IM-2 is part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program, which contracts private companies to deliver agency science and technology payloads to the lunar surface.
This mission is the second mission to the moon by Intuitive Machines, which had landed its Odysseus spacecraft on the lunar surface in February 2024. Meawnehile, on Sunday 3.34 am EST, Blue Ghost Mission 1, by another American space company Firefly Aerospace, landed on the Moon's near side carrying NASA science and technology instruments.
"The science and technology we send to the Moon now helps prepare the way for future NASA exploration and long-term human presence to inspire the world for generations to come," Nicky Fox, associate administrator for science at NASA Headquarters in Washington DC, had said.