Produced by: Tarun Mishra Designed by: Manoj Kumar
NASA has awarded Houston-based Intuitive Machines a $116.9 million contract to deliver six science instruments to the moon's south pole in 2027. This contract builds on the company’s earlier successes, including the first private lunar landing.
Credit : NASA
The instruments carried by Intuitive Machines will help NASA achieve scientific goals, such as mapping the distribution of volatiles like water, ice, and gas, and measuring radiation levels in the lunar south pole region.
Chris Culbert, manager of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program, emphasized the importance of the instruments, stating they will provide critical data for lunar exploration and future Mars missions.
Earlier this year, Intuitive Machines successfully landed its first lunar craft, Odysseus, near the moon's south pole. The solar-powered lander operated for seven Earth days, fulfilling its mission objectives.
The company is preparing for its second mission, IM-2, scheduled to launch later this year aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. This mission will also target the lunar south pole, carrying NASA's PRIME-1 payload to search for water ice.
Intuitive Machines' IM-3 mission is planned for 2025, and the newly awarded contract will support the company's fourth lunar mission. These missions are part of NASA's CLPS initiative, which aims to gather data in preparation for human landings under the Artemis program.
The six instruments set to fly in 2027 include a yeast biology experiment, a volatile analysis suite, a laser retroreflector array, a regolith disturbance study, a magnetometer, and an infrared imaging system. These instruments will provide valuable insights into the lunar environment and support future exploration efforts.