🔴 LIVE Intuitive Machines is attempting its second lunar landing with the IM-2 mission NOVA-C

🔴 March 6, 2025, Intuitive Machines is attempting its second lunar landing with the IM-2 mission, featuring the Nova-C lander named Athena. Here's the latest on this event:

Overview
Launch: The IM-2 mission launched on February 26, 2025, aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Lunar Orbit: Athena successfully entered lunar orbit on March 3, 2025, after an eight-minute engine burn, completing 39 orbits to align with the lunar sunrise at its landing site.

Landing Attempt: The landing is scheduled for today, March 6, 2025, at 12:32 p.m. EST (1732 GMT), targeting Mons Mouton, a flat-topped plateau approximately 100 miles (161 kilometers) from the moon’s south pole. This site is closer to the lunar south pole than any previous landing and is a potential location for NASA’s future Artemis human missions.

Mission Duration: If successful, Athena will operate for about 10 days on the lunar surface before the lunar night sets in, draining its solar-powered batteries.

Objectives and Payloads
NASA’s CLPS Program: The mission is part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative, aimed at delivering science and technology payloads to the moon. The IM-2 mission costs NASA $62.5 million.

Key Experiments:
PRIME-1: A drill to search for subsurface water ice, critical for future lunar exploration.

Grace: A rocket-powered “hopper” drone designed to make four hops totaling about 650 feet, exploring nearby craters for hydrogen and ice deposits.

4G Communications: A Nokia-built system to test lunar surface communications.

MAPP Rover: A small rover from Lunar Outpost carrying MIT science payloads.

Scientific Goals: The mission aims to gather data on the lunar south pole’s environment, particularly water ice, to support NASA’s Artemis program for sustained human presence on the moon.

Context and Signific