Houston's Intuitive Machines Lander and Hopper set to blast off as soon as Wednesday on Space X rocket

HOUSTON - The IM-2 Mission, which includes the "Athena" lunar lander developed by Intuitive Machines in Houston, is scheduled to blast off on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket to the Moon as soon as Wednesday.

Intuitive Machines Lander, Hopper blasting off for the Moon on Wednesday

What we know:

This mission will put cellular capabilities on the moon.

Another aspect of it will also include the IM-2 Micro Nova Hopper AKA "Grace."

According to Intuitive Machines, its name is in honor of Grace Hopper, the pioneer in mathematics and programming who worked on some of the earliest computers, and developed the first compiler and COBOL, a language still used today. She was a naval officer who helped NASA’s Apollo missions communicate with astronauts.

"Grace," will detach from "Athena", and begin its quest to locate ice water on the moon.

What they're saying:

"And what it does, it has a big fuel tank, and it has engines, and it fires and flies off the side of the lander up a rail system, and off the rail system. Then hops along the surface at greater and greater distances until ultimately it lands in a permanently shadowed region of the moon that has never been exposed to sunlight. We can look down with instruments that are on the hopper and look for water ice in the bottom of that crater," stated Steve Altemus; Co-Founder and CEO of Intuitive Machines.

Altemus believes there is ice water on the Moon that could sustain humans living on the planet eventually.

"Water is what gives life, right? Water is essential for consumables that astronauts will use. You could make oxygen, you could use the water as a consumable, you could make rocket fuels, and those kind of things teach you about how to live off the planet. Not having to bring all the logistics and resupply with you every time you go out into space. You could make things form what you harvest on the moon."