Elon Musk’s SpaceX to launch Athena lander for lunar exploration mission today: Here’s what we know

Elon Musk’s SpaceX is set to launch Intuitive Machines’ Athena, a lunar lander, towards the Moon’s south pole. This follows a historic lunar landing by a private company in 2024.

The launch is scheduled to take place from NASA’s Kennedy Space Centre, Florida, at 7:17 PM EST on Wednesday, February 26, 2025.

During the launch, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket will carry the lander, while NASA will begin coverage from 6:32 PM EST.

Athena lander’s mission

According to a Forbes report, the Athena lander will travel through space for at least a week before arriving at Mons Mouton — a plateau near the Moon’s south pole — on March 6. On the first day after landing, the lander will begin its mission, which includes analysing the lunar surface, searching for water deposits and testing new communication technologies.

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Key payloads aboard the lander include:

Mobile Autonomous Prospecting Platform (MAPP) Rover – Captures 3D images of the terrain.

Miniature rover – Mounted on MAPP’s roof to take temperature readings.

Grace Hopper – A robotic "hopper" designed to jump across a crater, covering approximately 650 feet, in search of ice deposits and hydrogen.

4G Communication System by Nokia – Facilitates data transmission between lunar spacecraft.

The lander will also deploy a NASA-designed probe to orbit the Moon and map water distribution, as well as an AstroForge spacecraft that will venture into deep space in search of asteroids containing precious metals, Forbes reported.

Upcoming lunar and space missions

Alongside Athena, two more landers are expected to reach the Moon soon. Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost could land as early as this weekend, while Japan’s ispace RESILIENCE is scheduled to land later this spring.

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Meanwhile, SpaceX is preparing for the eighth test flight of its Starship rocket on February 28. The previous test in January 2025 failed due to oxygen leakage and sustained fires, prompting necessary hardware modifications.

FAQs

1. Why is the Athena lander’s mission important?
The mission aims to explore potential lunar resources, map water deposits, and test advanced communication systems, paving the way for future Moon bases.


2. What happened to the last lunar lander carried by Intuitive Machines?
The Odysseus lander touched down in February 2024 but landed on its side, blocking its solar panels from recharging. The issue was later attributed to a switch error in its guidance system during landing.