By Passant Rabie Published February 15, 2025 | Comments (0) | Intuitive Machines' Nova-C class lunar lander will carry NASA technology to the Moon. Intuitive Machines Meet Grace, the brave hopper robot thats designed to jump into the darkest depths of the Moon, providing never-before-seen views of permanently shadowed craters near the lunar south pole. Houston-based startup Intuitive Machines is gearing up to launch its second mission toward the Moon as part of NASAs Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative. The companys lunar lander will lift off on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket during a four-day launch window that opens on February 26, carrying NASA science, technology demonstrations, and commercial payloads. The lander, named Athena, is targeting Mons Mouton, a lunar plateau near the Moons South Pole. If it nails its touchdown on the lunar surface, Athena will unpack its payloads, including a Micro-Nova robot named Grace that will hop into a nearby crater and then hop back out. The robot is named after Grace Hopper, a pioneer mathematician and computer scientist who advocated for accessible programming. Similarly, or rather symbolically, Grace the robot is designed to make the darkest reaches of the Moon accessible to the world. Unlike the human mathematician, however, Grace is a propulsive drone thats designed to hop across the Moons surface. The Micro-Nova hopper will perform a total of five hops, each with a different altitude. Using its built-in thrusters, Grace will propel itself across the lunar surface, getting progressively higher with each hop until it reaches 330 feet (100 meters) on the third hop. From there, the bouncing robot will hop its way down into a permanently shadowed crater. Grace is targeting Crater H, which is around 65 feet (20 meters) deep and lies about 1,650 feet (500 meters) away from Athenas landing site, Trent Martin, senior vice president of space systems at Intuitive Machines, said during a press conference on Friday, Space.com reported. While its down there, Grace will search for water and other resources in the crater, as well as use its onboard cameras to snap some photos. The robot is set to maintain communications with Athena using Nokias Lunar Surface Communication System, one of the landers commercial payloads that aims to create the first 4G/LTE network on the Moon.The hopper is designed to spend about 45 minutes on the crater floor before jumping back out onto the surface. The idea is that, if you have a really deep crater and you want to get down into that crater, why not do it with something like a drone? Martin is quoted in Space.com as saying. Grace is a first-of-its-kind technology demonstration as no hopping robot has explored the Moon before. Although Ingenuity, a trusty rotorcraft that explored Mars alongside the Perseverance rover, did so by taking short-lived flights above the surface of the Red Planet. China is also set to launch a similar mobile hopper to the Moon along with its Change 7 mission, which is scheduled to launch sometime in 2026.Intuitive Machines is also no stranger to the Moon. The company launched its first lunar lander, named Odysseus, in February 2024. Odysseus managed to touch down on the lunar surface, but its landing wasnt so smooth. One of the landers legs may have gotten caught during its descent, causing it to tip over on its side and end up lying sideways on a rock. If you havent caught on yet, both landers derive their names from Greek mythology, Athena being Odysseus divine patron. With that in mind, hopefully the lander will take after its namesake, the goddess of wisdom and battle, and nail its touchdown on the Moon to deliver a curious hopping robot.Daily NewsletterYou May Also Like By Passant Rabie Published February 14, 2025 By Passant Rabie Published February 13, 2025 By Matthew Gault Published February 12, 2025 By Passant Rabie Published February 10, 2025 By Passant Rabie Published February 6, 2025 By Passant Rabie Published February 6, 2025