Kennedy Space Center – If three lunar landers head at the same time on a mission for the first time in history, more moonstoes could be quickly kicked out.
The latest in Houston-based intuitive machine, Athena is targeting Wednesday at 7:17pm on aboard the KSC launch pad 39-A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. It will take part in two commercial efforts already in transit with an impressive demonstration of the current vitality of the space industry.
“There are three landing aircraft on the moon in space and we don’t have time to travel to the moon,” said Stephen Altemus, CEO of the intuitive machine. “We fired in the US, the commercial sector, the innovations that came out. Different kinds of landers, different kinds of propulsion experiments, engineering demonstrations, how to fly to the moon, how to land softly on the moon, the moon, the moon. All sorts of things are happening to promote understanding of how to work in.
Two other landers – Blue Ghost from Firefly Aerospace and Hakuto-R Lander Resilience from Japanese company Ispace shared a ride into space from KSC in January, both of which have slowed down their orbit. The still blue ghost could be their first arrival as early as Sunday.
Both the intuitive machine and the firefly have NASA payloads, but Ispace flies on its entirely own dime.
The Space Agency’s 10-year Commercial Moon Pi-Road Services program budget is $2.6 billion by 2028, with 11 task orders spreading to five companies so far, with two mission goals per year.
NASA puts money into businesses, who build land, arrange launch providers and handle all communications during missions.
Joel Kearns, assistant deputy administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Bureau’s exploration, says success is not guaranteed.
“Landing on the moon is very challenging. It’s much tougher than landing on Earth with the advantages of air, and you can use wings, parachutes and more,” Kerns said on Tuesday’s reporter Preleench. I said this at the press conference.
So far, only half of the ships sent to the moon have landed. The obstacles include ISPACE’s first mission in 2023 and misfires over the launch of Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic Technology last year.
“To get down to the dull moon surface, you’ll need to ride the rocket at a certain elevation, from orbit to the specific location you want to land, and you’ll be able to land and set up your cargo safely,” Kerns said.
India and Japan have joined as five countries to successfully get to the moon without crashing to the US, Russia and China.
NASA’s goal for the payload program is to break out of the landing business and become a customer of a US commercial company that operates simply in a robust lunar economy. Last year, the intuitive machine’s IM-1 mission was only partially successful, but marked the first time since 1972 since the US managed a soft landing to the moon. The final success was Apollo 17.
Astrobotic was the first company to attempt NASA’s payload transport mission in January 2024, but never reached the moon after suffering from propulsion problems after launch.
This year, Firefly became the third company to fly payload missions. It hopes that Blue Ghost will become the first commercial to paste moon landings without any problems.
The intuitive machine, Athena Lander, is on a more direct path to the moon, and could land in a few days. Ispace Lander is not scheduled to arrive until early May.
Additional monthly missions may appear in 2025.
The intuitive machine has a third business plan and a starry plan to try again with a bigger lander, newer than the first time it flew.
Also, potential flights of the year: Jeff Bezos’ lander from Blue Origins aims to pave the way for the final human landing ordered as part of NASA’s Artemis program.
“It’s an incredibly exciting time,” Kerns said. “It shows interest from the frontiers of space, especially the government when moving to the moon, internationally, from commercial organizations, as we are ready to move further along on our way to Mars. ”
The Three Lander Stories
An intuitive machine
IM-2 mission Nova-C Lander Athena, second Houston-based lunar landing mission
Start date: By February 26th
Landing date: March 6th
Destination: Mons Mouton in South Paul.
Payload: NASA’s Prime-1 drill, mass spectrometer and six other experiments, as well as commercial payloads from Lonestar Data Holdings, Columbia Sportswear, Nokia, Lunar Outspost, Puli Space, Dymon Co. Ltd. and German Aerospace Center
NASA CLPS contract value: $62.5 million
Firefly Air Space
Mission 1 Blue Ghost Lander, debut moon mission at Cedar Park, Texas
Start date: January 15, 2025 KSC launch pad 39-A SpaceX Falcon 9 Rocket
Landing date: March 2nd
Destination: Chrysium (as seen from the Northern Hemisphere) near Mons Latrail, on the northeastern corner of the globe-facing moon
Payload: 10 NASA CLPS experiments
NASA CLPS contract value: $101.5 million
ISPACE JAPAN
Hakuto-R Lander Resilience, the second attempt at Tokyo-based Moonlanding
Start date: January 15, 2025 KSC launch pad 39-A SpaceX Falcon 9 Rocket
Landing date: Early May
Destination: Male Frigolis far north of the moon (as seen from the Northern Hemisphere)
Payload: A small rover named Tenaiss, designed by Luxembourg-based Ispace Europe, and five other commercial science and commemorative payloads.
Not affiliated with NASA
Original issue: February 25th, 2025, 4:28pm EST
