Intuitive Machines designed and will operate the Athena lunar lander on the company's second voyage to the moon's south pole to hunt for water.

The space exploration firm is scheduled to launch its six-legged Nova-C moon lander, Athena, on Wednesday as part of NASA's $2.6 billion Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative. Athena is scheduled to launch aboard SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

A robotic moon lander is about to launch on a SpaceX rocket. It's the second lunar mission for a private company that last year became the first to successfully land on the moon’s surface.