11:52 - 27.02.2025

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February 27, Fineko/abc.az. The Athena lunar landing module with the Intuitive Machines cellular communication station separated from the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and continued its journey to the Moon.

ABC.AZ reports that the NASA Science & Technology center is on board the spacecraft as part of agency's CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative and the Artemis campaign.

NASA's Lunar Trailblazer spacecraft, also launched as part of this mission, separated from the launch vehicle and continued its journey into lunar orbit, where it will map the distribution of various forms of water on the moon.

Athena is expected to land on the surface of the moon on Thursday, March 6. As part of the second lunar expedition, the IM-2 mission will be one of the first in-situ resource discovery demonstrations on the Moon. The drill and mass spectrometer will measure the potential presence of volatiles or gases in the lunar soil at Mons Mouton, a lunar plateau near the Moon's South Pole.