NASA sends Athena to the exciting water hunt on the moon!

NASA sends Athena to the exciting water hunt on the moon!

NASA sent the unmanned moonland probe "Athena" into space on February 27, 2025 with the "Falcon 9" rocket from SpaceX. This mission, which is carried out under the NASA CLPS program and in cooperation with intuitive machines, is to land in the southern Pole area of the moon on March 6th. "Athena" was equipped with state-of-the-art instruments, including a drill that can penetrate up to one meter deep into the moon surface, and a mass spectrometer to analyze the chemical composition, as well as a drone called "Grace" that is used to explore the Marston crater. This mission could provide groundbreaking knowledge about the water reserves on the moon and is considered a decisive step for future lunar missions, so krone.at .

challenges and progress in moon research

The landing on the moon is technically extremely demanding. In 2024, intuitive machines successfully carried out the first commercial moon landing with the "Odysseus", albeit with a bumpy end because the lander tipped over. The current preparations for the "Athena" mission include comprehensive tests and adjustments to technology to improve land accuracy. According to the reports, the lander made contact with the earth's surface after the successful start 45 minutes later. This underlines the progress in moon research, especially in view of the fact that NASA and intuitive machines are continuously working on the improvement of the technologies in order to find both raw materials and water on the moon, which could support future manned missions, such as wikipedia emphasized.