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In early March, a robotic lander is poised to make its debut at the Moon’s south pole, carrying a diverse array of instruments designed to investigate the presence of subsurface water ice. Intuitive Machines’ IM-2 mission aims for a landing at 84.6° south latitude, approximately 100 miles (160 kilometers) from the lunar pole. Among its objectives are the deployment of an ice harvesting drill, a mass spectrometer, a compact rover, and an innovative “hopper” vehicle set to probe the depths of a permanently shadowed crater for the first time.
The six-legged lander, Nova-C, will be launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, with a four-day window opening on February 26. This mission, much like previous historic launches from the site—including the Apollo missions—aims to etch its own mark in the annals of lunar exploration.
If all goes as planned with the launch and the journey to the Moon, IM-2 is set to touch down on March 6 near the Shackleton crater, which boasts a diameter of 13 miles (21 km). While the rugged terrain surrounding the crater is continuously illuminated, its interior remains in perpetual shadow, potentially concealing water-ice deposits. Shackleton was initially considered for NASA’s Artemis 3, which aims to return humans to the Moon, but has since been removed from the candidate list while remaining near other viable locations.
Commercial Partnership
Intuitive Machines, based in Texas, is one of 14 companies engaged by NASA under the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program, a $2.6 billion initiative introduced in May 2018 to foster the development of lunar robotic landers. Selected as a CLPS partner in November 2018, Intuitive Machines has secured four NASA contracts, covering a series of missions planned through 2027.
The Nova-C lander, developed in-house, stands at 14.1 feet (4.3 meters) in height and spans 5.2 feet (1.6 m) at its widest point—a scale comparable to a small vehicle. It is capable of transporting payloads weighing up to 280 pounds (130 kilograms) to the Moon’s surface. The lander’s 3D-printed VR-900 engine made history by being the first methane/oxygen-fueled rocket to operate in deep space during the IM-1 mission launched in February 2024.
Equipped with three solar panels that generate 200 watts of power, the Nova-C lander is designed to operate for approximately two weeks—akin to a full lunar day. However, it must endure the extreme cold of the two-week lunar night, which sees temperatures plunge from daytime highs of 250 degrees Fahrenheit (120 degrees Celsius) to lows of –208 F (–130 C).
In a nod to ancient mythology, Intuitive Machines has named the lander Athena, paying homage to the Greek goddess of wisdom, though the mission team has affectionately dubbed it “Addy.”
Previous Challenges
Results from Intuitive Machines’ inaugural mission last year were bittersweet. The IM-1 mission, which transported ten scientific instruments for various stakeholders, made history as the first U.S. spacecraft to land on the Moon since Apollo 17 in December 1972. Named Odysseus after the legendary figure of Greek mythology, IM-1 achieved commercially unprecedented lunar landing proximity to the south pole at 80.13° south latitude.
However, the mission faced setbacks due to a pre-launch oversight that left a crucial safety mechanism on its primary laser rangefinder inactive. This led to a faster than anticipated landing, causing the lander to skid and ultimately damage its landing gear, leading to a precarious position at a 30° angle.
Despite these hurdles, Odysseus transmitted a portion of its scientific data back to Earth before operations ceased as lunar night fell. A subsequent review of the mission uncovered 85 technical issues, all of which Intuitive Machines believes have since been rectified. Nonetheless, the challenges of spaceflight persist, and Trent Martin, the company’s senior vice president, cautioned, “Landing on the Moon is extremely difficult; you never know what could happen.”
The genesis of IM-2 traces back to October 2020 when NASA awarded a contract worth $47 million to Intuitive Machines to deliver its Polar Resources Ice Mining Experiment (PRIME-1) to the lunar south pole, where shadowed craters may contain abundant water ice critical for future lunar exploration.
Subsurface Exploration
PRIME-1 encompasses two advanced instruments: the Regolith and Ice Drill for Exploring New Terrain (TRIDENT), engineered by Honeybee Robotics, and NASA’s Mass Spectrometer Observing Lunar Operations (MSolo). These will penetrate the surface to detect water ice and analyze released volatile compounds. The TRIDENT drill, equipped with carbide teeth, is designed to reach depths of up to 3 feet (1 meter) beneath the lunar regolith.
Jacqueline Quinn, principal investigator for PRIME-1, elucidated the drilling mechanism: “The drill will operate in approximately 10-centimeter increments, capturing regolith along its flutes before bringing it to the surface, where it is flung out by a brushing mechanism.”
The excavation will yield a series of conical accumulations of lunar material, which MSolo will then evaluate for volatiles. This operation is expected to yield crucial data regarding the forces required to excavate lunar materials, as well as provide insights into surface temperatures, energy demands, and tool effectiveness in the Moon’s environment. PRIME-1 serves as a precursor to the now-cancelled VIPER mission, which was intended to explore lunar water-ice deposits.
Payload Delivery
Beyond the PRIME-1 mission, IM-2 is set to transport a variety of additional scientific instruments.
Among them is Lunar Outpost’s Mobile Autonomous Prospecting Platform (MAPP), a 22-pound (10 kg) rover designed to traverse up to a mile (1.6 km) on the lunar surface. MAPP will establish direct communication with Athena and mission control via a high-bandwidth 4G/LTE cellular network provided by Nokia, while also collecting samples under a nominal contract of just $1 to encourage innovation in the commercial space sector.
MAPP operates at a top speed of 0.2 mph (0.32 km/hr), equipped to capture stereo imagery, thermal data, and analyze lunar regolith samples using specialized onboard instruments.
Another exciting addition to the IM-2 mission is Intuitive Machines’ Micro-Nova Hopper, which is designated to detach from Athena upon landing and navigate difficult terrain autonomously using hydrazine thrusters. Named Grace in honor of computer pioneer Grace Hopper, it will execute five short hops, including one into the depths of a permanently shadowed crater—marking a historic first for any spacecraft.
The hopper is capable of carrying payloads up to 2 pounds (0.9 kg) and can cover distances of up to 1.5 miles (2.4 km) while conducting high-resolution surveys of the lunar surface. Communication with both Athena and Earth is facilitated through the Nokia cellular network.
The initial hop of the Micro-Nova Hopper will reach 65 feet (20 m), with subsequent hops targeting elevations of 165 feet (50 m) and 330 feet (100 m). The latter hops are aimed at allowing it to access the shadowy depths of a crater, known as Crater H, located between 1,300 to 1,650 feet (400 to 500 m) from the landing site. The temperatures within this crater could plunge to as low as –370 F (–223 C).
“If we maintain communication, we’ll stay in contact with Gracie once she’s in the crater,” advised Martin, explaining the potential for successful data transmission via the established network. “If communication ceases, she will autonomously return after a set period.”
In addition to these projects, IM-2 will also carry NASA’s Lunar Trailblazer—an orbiter designed to map water-ice distribution on the Moon—Japan’s Yaoki mini-rover, and facilitate the inaugural flight of Spaceflight, Inc.’s Sherpa EScape space tug mission to the lunar surface.
Upon launching IM-2, Intuitive Machines plans to advance further with future missions, including IM-3, set to land near the equatorial Reiner Gamma site in late 2025, and IM-4, which will transport a European drill and other payloads to the Moon’s south pole in 2027.
Source
www.astronomy.com