Intuitive Machines, a private space research company based in the United States, has sent a spacecraft to the Moon to explore craters that never see the Sun. The spacecraft named Athena will search for water and ice in the depths of the Moon.

Intuitive Machines, a US-based private space research company, has launched a spacecraft to the Moon to investigate craters that never see the Sun. The spacecraft named “Athena” was launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, USA, using billionaire businessman Elon Musk’s SpaceX-produced Falcon 9 rocket. It was reported that as part of the mission, an unmanned aerial vehicle named “Grace” will descend approximately 20 meters into a crater in the southern pole of the Moon to determine whether there is ice, water, or gas present. If ice is found in the craters, the goal is to use this ice in the future to produce water, oxygen, and rocket fuel. According to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the experiments conducted by Athena will play a crucial role in astronauts’ return to the Moon. The spacecraft is expected to enter the Moon’s orbit on March 6. This marks the first landing on the Moon since 1972.

As part of Intuitive Machines’ “IM-1” mission, the spacecraft developed for landing on the Moon was launched on February 15 from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida using a Falcon 9 rocket produced by SpaceX. The spacecraft made a soft landing on the Moon at 02:23 Turkish time on February 23, becoming the first private spacecraft from the United States to land on the Moon’s surface since the “Apollo 17” mission in 1972. The 4.3-meter-tall, six-legged carbon fiber and titanium landing vehicle also carried payloads for 6 different experiments planned by NASA for the Artemis Mission. NASA had paid Intuitive Machines $118 million to build and fly Odysseus as part of efforts to commercialize lunar deliveries in line with its plans to send humans to the Moon within a few years. The spacecraft named “Odysseus” sent into space as part of the “IM-1” mission had landed on the Moon on February 24 but was tilted to one side.