A private company launched another lunar lander on Wednesday, February 26, 2025, aiming to get closer to the moon’s south pole this time with a drone that will hop into a jet-black crater that never sees the sun.

Intuitive Machines’ lander, named Athena, caught a lift with SpaceX from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. It’s taking a fast track to the moon — with a landing on March 6 — while hoping to avoid the fate of its predecessor, which tipped over at touchdown.

Never before have so many spacecraft angled for the moon’s surface all at once. Last month, American and Japanese companies shared a rocket and separately launched landers toward Earth’s sidekick. Texas-based Firefly Aerospace should get there first this weekend after a big head start.

The two American landers are carrying tens of millions of dollars’ worth of experiments for NASA as it prepares to return astronauts to the moon. This mission is part of a broader effort to establish a sustainable human presence on the lunar surface, a goal that has been a cornerstone of NASA’s Artemis program.

“It’s an amazing time. There’s so much energy,”

NASA’s science mission chief Nicky Fox

This isn’t Intuitive Machines’ first lunar rodeo. Last year, the Texas company made the first U.S. touchdown on the moon in more than 50 years. But an instrument that gauges distance did not work and the lander came down too hard and broke a leg, tipping onto its side.

Intuitive Machines said it has fixed the issue and dozens of others. A sideways landing like last time would prevent the drone and a pair of rovers from moving out. NASA’s drill also needs an upright landing to pierce beneath the lunar surface to gather soil samples for analysis.

“Certainly, we will be better this time than we were last time. But you never know what could happen,” said Trent Martin, senior vice president of space systems.

Only five countries have pulled off a lunar landing over the decades: Russia, the U.S., China, India and Japan. The moon is littered with wreckage from many past failures. This mission underscores the challenges and risks associated with lunar exploration, highlighting the importance of technological advancements and meticulous planning.

The 15-foot Athena will target a landing 100 miles from the lunar south pole. Just a quarter-mile away is a permanently shadowed crater — the ultimate destination for the drone named Grace. Named after the late computer programming pioneer Grace Hopper, the 3-foot drone will make three increasingly higher and longer test hops across the lunar surface using hydrazine-fueled thrusters for flight and cameras and lasers for navigation.

If those excursions go well, it will hop into the nearby pitch-black crater, an estimated 65 feet deep. Science instruments from Hungary and Germany will take measurements at the bottom while hunting for frozen water. This mission is pivotal for understanding the potential resources available on the moon, which could be crucial for future human exploration and habitation.

It will be the first up-close peek inside one of the many shadowed craters dotting both the north and south poles. Scientists suspect these craters are packed with tons of ice. If so, this ice could be transformed by future explorers into water to drink, air to breathe and even rocket fuel.

NASA is paying $62 million to Intuitive Machines to get its drill and other experiments to the moon. The company, in turn, sold space on the lander to others. It also opened up the Falcon rocket to ride-sharing. Tagalongs included NASA’s Lunar Trailblazer satellite, which will fly separately to the moon over the next several months before entering lunar orbit to map the distribution of water below. Also catching a ride was a private spacecraft that will chase after an asteroid for a flyby, a precursor to asteroid mining.

This mission is a testament to the growing collaboration between private companies and government agencies in space exploration. The success of Intuitive Machines’ mission could pave the way for more private ventures to the moon, potentially reducing costs and accelerating the pace of lunar exploration.

As the world watches, the success of this mission will be a significant milestone in the ongoing efforts to return to the moon and establish a sustainable presence there. The potential discoveries and technological advancements from this mission could have far-reaching implications for future space exploration and the utilization of lunar resources.