Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C lunar lander is currently at their headquarters in Houston, but it won’t be for long. It is set to be shipped to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, where it will be integrated with a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket for a historic launch as part of NASA’s CLPS initiative and Artemis campaign.
The mission of Intuitive Machines is to become the first private company to achieve a controlled, soft landing on the moon. This is a monumental task, as only five countries have achieved this feat, and none of them have been commercial missions. The recent failed attempts by ispace and Astrobotic serve as a reminder of the difficulties and challenges involved in such a mission.
Last year, Japanese firm ispace sent its Hakuto-R Series 1 lander to the moon, but it lost control in the final stages of its flight and crashed on the surface. Similarly, Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic’s Peregrine lander suffered a critical fuel leak shortly after reaching space, preventing it from reaching the moon and eventually burning up in Earth’s atmosphere.
Now, the spotlight is on Intuitive Machines as they prepare to launch the Nova-C lunar lander from the Kennedy Space Center next month. The mission will be the second as part of NASA’s new CLPS program, which aims to contract commercial firms to send science missions to the moon and test new technologies in preparation for the Artemis crewed landing in 2026.
The success of Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C mission is crucial in supporting the CLPS model for commercial payload deliveries to the lunar surface. The lander will carry various science instruments focusing on plume-surface interactions, space weather/lunar surface interactions, radio astronomy, precision landing technologies, and a communication and navigation node for future autonomous navigation technologies.
The Nova-C lander is a hexagonal cylinder, 4 meters tall and 1.57 meters wide, with six landing legs. Once launched from Kennedy on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, it will head for the moon’s Malapert A crater near the South Pole. All eyes will be on Intuitive Machines as the world watches to see if they can achieve a successful soft landing, potentially making history in the process.
