Intuitive Machines Ready for their Lunar Lander Launch

Intuitive Machines says that their IM-1 lander is set to deliver to the Kennedy Space Center and SpaceX for the probe's ride to the moon, scheduled for No Earlier Than November 16.  If successful, this will be the first privately-developed vehicle to land on the moon.  So far, the complete roster of entities that have landed on the moon are the US, the former Soviet Union, the People's Republic of China and now India; all of those were missions by the respective governments, not private companies. 

The company unveiled its completed Nova-C lander at its new headquarters here Oct. 3, a day after completing a pre-ship review that confirmed that the spacecraft is ready to be transported to the Kennedy Space Center for launch on a Falcon 9 on a mission designated IM-1.

That launch is scheduled for a six-day period that opens Nov. 16 from KSC’s Launch Complex 39A. The lander will separate from the upper stage 32 minutes after launch and begin a five-day journey to the moon. A day after going into orbit around the moon, the spacecraft will attempt a landing at Malapert Crater, about 300 kilometers from the lunar south pole.

“We’re ready to go,” Tim Crain, chief technology officer of Intuitive Machines, said in an interview. Engineers completed all testing of the vehicle’s hardware and software ahead of shipment with no remaining issues to deal with before launch. “We’re really pleased about where we are.”

Intuitive Machines says they're concerned about pad congestion at pad 39A.  There are two launches ahead of IM-1 at 39A, including the Falcon Heavy launch of Psyche that was recently delayed a week to Oct. 12.  IM-1 has to launch from LC-39A because it's the only pad configured to fuel the lander with methane and liquid oxygen propellants shortly before liftoff.  Still, the window for Psyche closes on October 20 and that's almost four weeks before the window to launch IM-1 opens; given SpaceX launched 10 Falcon 9 missions last month, averaging one every three days, it doesn't seem like there's much to worry about. While I understand it shouldn't be taken as perfect, I looked at the SpaceX manifest on NextSpaceflight.com and see only one other mission for Pad 39A other than Psyche, an ISS Cargo Resupply mission, CRS SpX-29 on November 1st.

IM-1 is the company’s first lander mission and the first that is part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program, where the agency buys payload space on commercial landers. IM-1 is carrying five NASA payloads as well as six commercial payloads from customers ranging from Embry Riddle Aeronautical University to artist Jeff Koons.

Historically, and this is going back to the earliest days of spaceflight, fewer than 45% of lunar landing missions have been successful.  Steve Altemus, chief executive of Intuitive Machines, estimated the odds of success at “upwards of 65% to 75%,” well over the historic averages.  To me, that makes sense; surely we've learned things in the last 60 years that can enhance the chances compared to that 45%.  That said, it's true that Israel's private company SpaceIL lost their Beresheet during its landing attempt in 2019, just as Japan's company ispace lost their Hakuto-R this past April.  Intuitive Machines has access to the failure analysis of these missions, and has learned what to design for.  

The Nova-C lander built by Intuitive Machines is posed for a photograph before it's to be shipped to the Kennedy Space Center.  Credit: SpaceNews/Jeff Foust

Intuitive Machines comes across as being well-placed for this mission and beyond.  They openly acknowledge the chance of failure, it would be more of a concern if they didn't acknowledge it, saying they have preparations for an IM-2 lander if need be.

The company has three NASA CLPS awards for lunar lander missions but has also moved into other business areas. The company teamed with KBR to win a NASA engineering services contract called Omnibus Multidiscipline Engineering Services (OMES) III earlier this year that has a maximum value of $719 million over five years. Intuitive Machines also was one of three companies that won recent Air Force Research Lab contracts to work on designs of nuclear-powered spacecraft.

“Look at Intuitive Machines as a diversified space exploration company,” Altemus said, with several lines of business. In addition to its recent awards, the company is bidding on a NASA contract to provide communications services for its Near Space Network, supporting lunar missions, as well as NASA’s Lunar Terrain Vehicle lunar rover for future Artemis crewed missions.

The link to the Air Force Research Lab article opens with a photo that looks very much like the nuclear reactor called KRUSTY that I wrote about five years ago.  It's very cool to see a contract being let for these nuclear reactors; like I said at the time, if these things delivered 20 kW, I'd have to start looking into how I could finance one for my backyard.