Leonard David's INSIDE OUTER SPACE

Artist’s concept of Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C lunar lander on the Moon’s south pole.
Image credit: Intuitive Machines

A U.S. Moon lander provider has a new contract under its belt, awarded monies via the NASA Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative program.

Intuitive Machines of Houston, Texas is receiving $116.9 million to deliver six NASA payloads to the lunar south pole in 2027.

“This marks the 10th CLPS delivery NASA has awarded, and the fourth planned for delivery to the South Pole of the Moon,” said Joel Kearns, deputy associate administrator for exploration, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters in Washington.

Timing is everything

Intuitive Machines is in the final assembly phase of its second lunar mission (IM-2) and is scheduled to deliver the completed lander to the launch facility in late 2024.

The IM-2 mission is designed to prospect for water ice and other volatiles on the Moon’s south pole. This lander is aimed at touchdown within an elliptical region on the Shackleton Connecting Ridge. To align with the landing site’s solar power conditions, the mission must be timed between November 2024 and January 2025. IM-2 is currently planned for late 2024.

In parallel, the company is continuing work on its third lunar mission and is preparing for systems integration and testing.

A spectacular, specially produced near-ground level oblique view of the “Connecting Ridge” between Shackleton and Henson craters. The lunar south pole (SP) occurs on the rim of Shackleton crater. The ridge along the rim of the South Pole-Aitken impact basin is a potential Artemis landing site (001) and another (004) occurs on the rim of Shackleton crater. (Image credit: ETHZ\LPI\Valentin T. Bickel and David A. Kring)

Instrument list

The lander will be outfitted with a projected 174 pounds (79 kilograms) of instruments:

NASA’s Lunar Explorer Instrument for Space Biology Applications will deliver yeast to the lunar surface and study its response to radiation and lunar gravity.

Package for Resource Observation and In-Situ Prospecting for Exploration, Characterization and Testing is a suite of instruments led by the European Space Agency that will drill down to 3.3 feet (1 meter) beneath the lunar surface, extract samples, and process them in-situ in a miniaturized laboratory, to identify possible volatiles (water, ice, or gas) trapped at extremely cold temperatures under the surface.

View of ESA’s Prospect robotic drill set to fly to the Moon’s South Polar region in search of volatiles, such as water ice.
Image credit: Leonardo

NASA Laser Retroreflector Array is a collection of eight retroreflectors that will enable lasers to precisely measure the distance between a spacecraft and the reflector on the lander. The array is a passive optical instrument and will function as a permanent location marker on the Moon for decades to come.

NASA Surface Exosphere Alterations by Landers will investigate the chemical response of lunar regolith to the thermal, physical, and chemical disturbances generated during a landing, and evaluate contaminants injected into the regolith by the lander. It will give insight into how a spacecraft landing might affect the composition of samples collected nearby.

NASA Fluxgate Magnetometer will characterize certain magnetic fields to improve the understanding of energy and particle pathways at the lunar surface and is managed by NASA Goddard.

University of Colorado/Boulder’s Lunar Compact Infrared Imaging System will deploy a radiometer – a device that measures infrared wavelengths of light – to explore the Moon’s surface composition, map its surface temperature distribution, and demonstrate the instrument’s feasibility for future lunar resource utilization activities. The imaging system is managed by the University’s Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP).

Shackleton Crater located on the south pole of the Moon. The Lunar Temple visible as bright dot on the left side.
Credit: Jorge Mañes Rubio/DITISHOE