A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is about to launch a number of missions, including a private lunar lander, a lunar satellite for NASA and a prospecting probe for an asteroid-mining company
By Alex Wilkins
24 February 2025
An artist’s impression of the Athena spacecraft on the moon
NASA
A private space mission will launch to the moon this week, aiming for the southern-most point ever visited on the lunar surface. The Athena spacecraft, made by US-based Intuitive Machines, is due to launch onboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida at 12:17am GMT on 27 February (7:17pm EST on 26 February). Several other missions will also hitch a ride on the same rocket, including an asteroid-mining expedition.
Intuitive Machines became the first private company to successfully land on the moon last year, when its Odysseus spacecraft touched down near the moon’s south pole. Though the spacecraft’s instruments remained operational, Odysseus made an awkward landing and tipped over, limiting the amount of data its instruments could collect and cutting the mission short.
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The company hopes for a cleaner landing when Athena begins its descent towards the end of March. Its planned landing site is near the moon’s tallest mountain, Mons Mouton, which is about 60 kilometres from the south pole, making Athena’s attempt the most southerly approach of the moon ever. If the craft lands successfully, it will then operate for a couple of weeks, equivalent to a single lunar day, before the lunar night begins and power is lost.
Athena will carry more than 10 instruments and missions from both NASA and other private companies. That is not all – the same Falcon 9 that will launch Athena to the moon is also carrying three unrelated spacecraft. These are an asteroid-prospecting spacecraft from space company AstroForge, which, in the first mission of its kind, will survey a space rock for potential mineable metal later this year. Also along for the ride is NASA’s Lunar Trailblazer satellite, which will map water on the moon and look for future landing spots. The third spacecraft, built by Epic Aerospace, is designed to help other satellites move between orbits.