Dual lunar landings and Starship test mark March milestones
Two lunar landers, Athena and Blue Ghost, are scheduled to touch down on the Moon at the beginning of March. During this time, SpaceX will also conduct its eighth Starship rocket test.
American Firefly Aerospace launched the Blue Ghost lander toward the Moon on 15 January. Its landing is planned for 2 March in the Mare Crisium region. The mission includes scientific experiments, such as testing lunar regolith adhesion and evaluating computers' resilience to cosmic radiation. Its goal is to support future manned missions as part of NASA's Artemis programme.
The Athena lander, developed by Intuitive Machines, was launched on 26 February aboard a Falcon 9 rocket. It is scheduled to land on 6 March in the Mons Mouton region.
The mission focuses on mobility, advanced communication, drilling on the Moon's surface, and data transmission and storage beyond Earth. After landing, Athena will send back images, deploy the Lunar Outpost MAPP rover and the Grace robot, and activate the NASA PRIME-1 drilling set.
The data collected by these instruments will be transmitted to Earth and the Freedom data centre in lunar orbit. The mission will also test a new 4G/LTE communication system.
Starship rocket test
SpaceX is planning the eighth test of the Starship rocket on 3 March. Following an analysis of the previous unsuccessful flight, hardware and operational amendments have been made to increase reliability. The objectives include the rocket's first deployment of a payload and experiments related to atmospheric entry.
Starship is a two-stage mega-rocket that stands over 393 feet tall. Its first stage is the Super Heavy booster, and the second stage is the Starship spacecraft. SpaceX plans to use the Mechazilla tower's mechanical arms to catch the returning upper stage and launch, recover, and capture the Super Heavy booster.
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