(Reuters) – Intuitive Machines is “ready to go” with its second moon landing mission, a company executive said on Wednesday, a day ahead of the scheduled launch of its lunar lander.
The space exploration firm is scheduled to launch its six-legged Nova-C moon lander, Athena, on Wednesday as part of NASA’s $2.6 billion Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative.
Athena is scheduled to launch aboard SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The lander is expected to land near the lunar south pole, in the vicinity of the Shackleton crater, and will drill into the surface to search for water ice and other gases.
Intuitive Machines made history in February last year by becoming the first private company — and the first CLPS mission — to touchdown on the moon..
The company is scheduled to conduct a wet dress rehearsal, which simulates the launch sequence to ensure all systems are functioning as expected, with SpaceX later this Tuesday.
“We are not currently facing any issues with the Nova-C. Nova-C is buttoned up and ready to go,” Trent Martin, senior vice president of space systems at Intuitive Machines, said on a conference call.
However, the mission was only partially successful, as the spacecraft tipped sideways shortly after landing on the lunar surface. Still, the company was able to maintain communication with the lander, which it described as “alive and well.”
In August last year, Texas-based Intuitive Machines was awarded a $116.9 million contract under CLPS to deliver six science and technology payloads to the lunar south pole.
The launch also comes at a time when NASA’s lunar exploration plans are clouded with uncertainty after four key senior officials of its flagship moon program left the space agency amid the growing influence of SpaceX founder Elon Musk, who advocates for prioritizing missions to Mars.
(Reporting by Deborah Sophia and Rishi Kant in Bengaluru; Editing by Tasim Zahid)
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