Athena Lunar Lander: South Pole Moon Views | IM-2 Mission | Intuitive Machines

Athena Lunar Lander: South Pole Moon Views | IM-2 Mission | Intuitive Machines

This image sequence from 0 seconds to 20 seconds is from a public affairs camera and is made up of 240 images taken over a mid-latitude region over a 10-minute span. Each picture is shown as one camera frame.  

For reference, Athena captured the image sequence starting at 20 seconds over the Moon's south pole region near her intended landing site, Mons Mouton—one of NASA's designated human landing sites for the Artemis campaign.

00:00:00 Mid-latitude 

00:00:20 South Pole Region

Mission updates: https://bit.ly/3F0yRu9

The Intuitive Machines IM-2 mission lunar lander, named Athena, is carrying PRIME-1 and other NASA technology demonstrations and science investigations. Athena’s mission is designed to validate resource prospecting, mobility, and communications infrastructure in the Moon’s Mons Mouton region, one of nine potential Artemis III landing sites.

Commanded using Intuitive Machines’ commercial Lunar Data Network, IM-2 will be the Company’s second of four manifested lunar missions as part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (“CLPS”) initiative. Through the CLPS initiative and Artemis campaign, NASA is leveraging American companies to send scientific instruments and technology demonstrations to the Moon, advancing our understanding of the Moon and planetary processes, while paving the way for future crewed missions. 

Learn more about NASA's CLPS Program:
https://www.nasa.gov/content/commercial-lunar-payload-services

Video Credit: Intuitive Machines

Duration: 37 seconds
Release Date: March 4, 2025

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