Overview

• The Athena lander, developed by Intuitive Machines, is scheduled to land on the Moon at 12:32 p.m. EST on Thursday, March 6, targeting a site near the lunar south pole.
• If successful, this will be the second private lunar landing within a week, following Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost mission last Sunday.
• Athena is tasked with searching for water ice, deploying rovers, testing a 4G communications system by Nokia, and conducting NASA-funded experiments, including an ice drill and a hopping exploration drone.
• The mission builds on Intuitive Machines' 2024 lunar landing, which was the first successful private Moon landing, though the lander tipped over after touchdown.
• Live coverage of the landing will begin at 11:30 a.m. EST via NASA+, with additional 3D imagery and updates streamed through a collaboration between MIT and Comcast.