SpaceX has launched the lunar lander "Athena" towards the Moon.

Approximately eight and a half minutes after launch, the first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket returned to Earth to land on the SpaceX drone ship, while the second stage successfully delivered the "Athena" spacecraft into orbit.

The flight of the "Athena" module to Earth's natural satellite will take just one week. According to the mission plan, on March 6, the spacecraft will land on the Mons Mouton plateau near the Moon's South Pole.

The ambitious scientific program of the "Athena" mission is designed to last about 10 days and focuses on testing new technologies.

"Athena" will conduct an experiment to collect soil samples from various depths (up to 90 centimeters) and analyze them for water ice content using the TRIDENT (The Regolith and Ice Drill for Exploring New Terrain) drill and the MSolo mass spectrometer.

Onboard the Intuitive Machines module are the four-wheeled lunar rover MAPP (Mobile Autonomous Prospecting Platform) from Lunar Outpost, a half-kilogram Japanese rover Yaoki, and the jumping module Micro Nova Hopper. They will explore the surroundings of the landing site.

Additionally, "Athena" is set to test communication technologies on the Moon. The rovers will maintain communication with the module via the LSCS (Lunar Surface Communication System), developed by Nokia and utilizing 4G standards instead of traditional radio frequencies. This system aims to ensure fast data exchange between the devices.

It is worth noting that this is already the second mission by Intuitive Machines to the Moon; last year, its lander, the "Odyssey" spacecraft, successfully landed on its side.