Skip to content

IM-2

Intuitive Machines · Nova-C Athena · landed

Launch: 2025-02-27. Landing: 2025-03-06.

Athena landed on its side and the mission ended early; NASA received some data. Launch was 26 Feb 2025 local time (FO page), 27 Feb UTC (Wikipedia). NASA lists PRIME-1 (TRIDENT, MSolo) and the LRA as its payloads. NASA's press kit lists the hopper and Nokia's network as STMD Tipping Point demonstrations, apart from both NASA and non-NASA payloads; they are commercial payloads here. The hopper carried DLR's Lunar Radiometer and Puli's water snooper; Lunar Outpost's MAPP carried MIT's AstroAnt and camera; Lonestar's Freedom carried ARMAS. Left out as a memento: MIT's silicon wafer of messages. The CLPS office's LPSC summary mentions LRAD; NASA's timeline does not.

Wikipedia: IM-2.

Payload Kind FO Earlier flights On the Moon
The Regolith and Ice Drill for Exploring New Terrain (TRIDENT), part of PRIME-1 NASA payload company-level none found partly operated
Mass Spectrometer Observing Lunar Operations (MSolo), part of PRIME-1 NASA payload none none found partly operated
Laser Retroreflector Array (LRA) NASA payload none Earth orbit or deep space, earlier lunar mission not in public sources
Micro Nova hopper (Grace) commercial payload none none found partly operated
Lunar Surface Communications System (LSCS), Nokia commercial payload none none found partly operated
Mobile Autonomous Prospecting Platform (MAPP) rover commercial payload none none found partly operated
AstroAnt commercial payload tested FO, aircraft (not FO) partly operated
MIT high-resolution camera on MAPP commercial payload company-level aircraft (not FO) partly operated
Lunar Radiometer (LRAD) commercial payload none Earth orbit or deep space not in public sources
Puli Lunar Water Snooper commercial payload none none found partly operated
YAOKI rover commercial payload none none found no data: lander failure
Freedom (Lonestar data storage payload) commercial payload none ISS or MISSE, earlier lunar mission partly operated
Automated Radiation Measurement for Aerospace Safety (ARMAS) commercial payload tested FO, ISS or MISSE, aircraft (not FO) partly operated
MiniPIX TPX3 SPACE radiation monitor commercial payload none Earth orbit or deep space, ISS or MISSE not in public sources