<ul><li>The private firm Intuitive Machines has launched a lunar lander, Athena, to test extraction methods for water and volatile gases on the Moon.</li><li>Athena aims to land in the Mons Mouton region, about 160 km from the lunar south pole, and will use a drill to bore into the surface to extract substances such as water and carbon dioxide.</li><li>The mission also includes a rocket-propelled hopper called Grace and two rovers, MAPP and Yaoki, to explore the lunar surface and nearby craters.</li><li>In addition to Athena, NASA's Lunar Trailblazer will spend two years orbiting the Moon to map the distribution of water on the lunar surface using imaging spectrometry and thermal mapping.</li></ul>

US-led missions launched to investigate the Moon’s water

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