posted 10-16-2020 04:19 PM               

NASA Selects Intuitive Machines to Land Water-Measuring Payload on the Moon

NASA has awarded Intuitive Machines of Houston approximately $47 million to deliver a drill combined with a mass spectrometer to the Moon by December 2022 under the agency's Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative. The delivery of the Polar Resources Ice Mining Experiment known as PRIME-1 will help NASA search for ice at the Moon's South Pole and, for the first time, harvest ice from below the surface.

"We continue to rapidly select vendors from our pool of CLPS vendors to land payloads on the lunar surface, which exemplifies our work to integrate the ingenuity of commercial industry into our efforts at the Moon," said NASA's Associate Administrator for Science Thomas Zurbuchen. "The information we'll gain from PRIME-1 and other science instruments and technology demonstrations we're sending to the lunar surface will inform our Artemis missions with astronauts and help us better understand how we can build a sustainable lunar presence."

PRIME-1 will land on the Moon and drill up to 3 feet (approximately 1 meter) below the surface. It will measure with a mass spectrometer how much ice in the sample is lost to sublimation as the ice turns from a solid to a vapor in the vacuum of the lunar environment. Versions of PRIME-1's drill and the Mass Spectrometer Observing Lunar Operations, or MSolo, will also fly on VIPER, a mobile robot that also will search for ice at the lunar South Pole in 2023. NASA will land the first woman and next man on the Moon's South Pole the following year.

"PRIME-1 will give us tremendous insight into the resources at the Moon and how to extract them," said Jim Reuter, associate administrator for NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) in Washington. "Sending this payload to the Moon is a terrific example of our scientific and technology communities coming together with our commercial partners to develop breakthrough technologies to accomplish a range of goals on the lunar surface."

STMD's Game Changing Development program funds PRIME-1. Honeybee Robotics of Pasadena, California, is developing the ice-mining drill. NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, in partnership with INFICON of Syracuse, New York, is developing the mass spectrometer.

The data from PRIME-1 will help scientists understand in-situ resources on the Moon. PRIME-1 contributes to NASA's search for water at the Moon's poles, supporting the agency's plans to establish a sustainable human presence on the Moon by the end of the decade. PRIME-1's early use of the drill and MSolo helps to increase the likelihood of reliable operation of those payloads on VIPER's mobile platform in the following year.

posted 01-13-2021 10:00 AM               

Intuitive Machines Selects SpaceX Falcon 9 Rocket for Second Moon Mission

There are currently five awarded Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) missions to the lunar surface in the next three years. Intuitive Machines (IM) has two of the missions and both will be launched by SpaceX.

"Signing with SpaceX for our IM-2 Polar Mission, our second scheduled lunar landing, is more than affordable quality lunar transport," said IM President and CEO, Steve Altemus. "Launching Nova-C on a rocket with a proven record of reliability and outstanding value is an assurance to NASA and our commercial payload customers that IM is dedicated to sticking the landing in back-to-back Moon missions."

NASA awarded IM the company's second payload delivery contract award under NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative, October 16, 2020. IM has packaged the CLPS payload with two other high profile NASA technology payloads into IM-2 Polar Mission.

"Our Lunar Payload and Data Service (LPDS) program matures with each awarded mission to the Moon," said Altemus. "That maturity is essential for creating a reliable and repeatable lunar landing service that brings us closer to sustained lunar exploration and development."

IM-2 Polar Mission will launch on a Falcon 9 rocket no earlier than 2022.

"We're honored to launch Intuitive Machines' important missions to the lunar surface," said SpaceX Vice President of Commercial Sales Tom Ochinero. "These missions, in partnership with NASA, will help further the goal of extending humanity's reach beyond Earth."

posted 11-04-2021 11:53 AM               

NASA, Intuitive Machines Announce Landing Site Location for Lunar Drill

In late 2022, NASA will send an ice-mining experiment attached to a robotic lander to the lunar South Pole on a ridge not far from Shackleton crater – a location engineers and scientists have assessed for months. NASA and Intuitive Machines, an agency partner for commercial Moon deliveries, announced the location selection Nov. 3.

Above: Illustration of Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C lander with a depiction of NASA’s Polar Resources Ice-Mining Experiment-1 (PRIME-1) attached to the spacecraft on the surface of the Moon. (Intuitive Machines)

NASA data from spacecraft orbiting the Moon indicate this location, referred to as the "Shackleton connecting ridge," could have ice below the surface. The area receives sufficient sunlight to power a lander for roughly a 10-day mission, while also providing a clear line of sight to Earth for constant communications. It also is close to a small crater, which is ideal for a robotic excursion.

These conditions offer the best chance of success for the three technology demonstrations aboard. This includes the NASA-funded Polar Resources Ice-Mining Experiment-1 (PRIME-1) – which consists of a drill paired with a mass spectrometer – a 4G/LTE communications network developed by Nokia of America Corporation, and Micro-Nova, a deployable hopper robot developed by Intuitive Machines.

"PRIME-1 is permanently attached to Intuitive Machines' Nova-C lander, and finding a landing location where we might discover ice within three feet of the surface was challenging," said Dr. Jackie Quinn, PRIME-1 project manager at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. "While there is plenty of sunlight to power the payloads, the surface gets too warm to sustain ice within reach of the PRIME-1 drill. We needed to find a 'goldilocks' site that gets just enough sunlight to meet mission requirements while also being a safe place to land with good Earth communications."

To select this final landing location, experts from NASA, Arizona State University, Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab, Nokia, and Intuitive Machines created "ice-mining" maps of the lunar surface using lunar remote sensing data.

After landing, the PRIME-1 drill, known as The Regolith Ice Drill for Exploring New Terrain (TRIDENT), will attempt to drill up to three feet deep, extract lunar soil – called regolith – and deposit it on the surface for water analysis. PRIME-1's other instrument, the Mass Spectrometer observing lunar operations (MSolo), will measure volatile gases that readily escape from the material excavated by TRIDENT.

Above: A data visualization showing the area near the lunar South Pole on a ridge not far from Shackleton — the large crater on the right — selected as the landing site for Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C lander, which will deliver technology demonstrations to the Moon's surface under NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative. The conditions at the site offer the best chance of success for three technology demonstrations onboard. (NASA)

PRIME-1 will be the first demonstration of finding and extracting resources on the Moon. Advancing these types of technologies are critical to establishing a robust, long-term presence in deep space, including at the Moon as part of the agency's Artemis missions. Simply operating and drilling into the tough lunar surface will provide valuable insight to engineers for future lunar missions, such as the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover, or VIPER, mission, which is slated to land at the lunar South Pole in late 2023.

While PRIME-1 will investigate the resources below the lunar surface, Nokia will set out to test its space-hardened 4G/LTE network. A small rover developed by Lunar Outpost will venture more than a mile away from the Nova-C lander and test Nokia's wireless network at various distances. The rover will communicate to a base station located on Nova-C, and the lander will communicate data back to Earth. This demonstration could pave the way for a commercial 4G/LTE system for mission-critical communications on the lunar surface. This includes communications and even high-definition video streaming from astronauts to base stations, vehicles to base stations, and more.

Nearby, Intuitive Machines' Micro-Nova will aim to deploy to the surface and hop into a nearby crater to acquire pictures and science data before hopping out. It will then send the data back to Nova-C. Micro-Nova can carry a two-pound payload more than 1.5 miles to access lunar craters and enable high-resolution surveying of the lunar surface. This demonstration could help pave the way for additional commercial lunar exploration services. In the future, scientists may have the opportunity to outfit a hopper with their own small science instruments, such as cameras, seismometers, lunar ranging systems, and more.

"These early technology demonstrations employ innovative partnerships to provide valuable information about operating on and exploring the lunar surface," said Niki Werkheiser, director of technology maturation for NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "The data will inform the designs for future in-situ resource utilization, mobility, communication, power, and dust mitigation capabilities."

posted 01-07-2025 04:42 PM               

Landing Location

Athena is targeting the "Mons Mouton" region of the Moon. This landing site is approximately 100 miles from the Moon's south pole, representing the closest location ever attempted.

Mons Mouton is named after the mathematician Melba Mouton, one of the first "human computers" who played a key role in the early field of spacecraft trajectory and geodynamics.

Athena is expected to land in a lunar highland terrain, and will then deploy rovers and Intuitive Machines' Micro Nova Hopper to explore the local area. The Micro Nova Hopper is designed to take multiple flights to collect science data using instruments from Hungary and Germany. One of these hops is expected to be into a small permanently shadowed crater approximately one quarter of a mile from the landing site. This would be the first time that a permanently shadowed crater, somewhere the sun has never shone, has been explored.

posted 01-07-2025 04:42 PM               

IM-2 Mission Overview

Intuitive Machines' IM-2 mission represents a significant leap forward in lunar exploration, ready to demonstrate water hunting infrastructure services on the Moon's surface. IM-2 is set to demonstrate lunar mobility, resource prospecting, and analysis of volatile substances from subsurface materials, a critical step toward uncovering water sources beyond Earth—a key component for establishing sustainable infrastructure both on the lunar surface and in space.

Launching aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in early 2025, IM-2 inherits and refines the successful Nova-C lunar lander design used in the IM-1 mission. This updated lander incorporates enhancements including the integration of lidar technology and advanced autonomous landing through machine learning and artificial intelligence.

IM-2's primary objectives include deploying NASA's TRIDENT Drill and MSolo mass spectrometer to delve up to 1 meter beneath the lunar surface, demonstrating the processes required to discover life-sustaining volatiles like water and CO2.

Additionally, the mission introduces innovative mobility capabilities with Intuitive Machines' Micro Nova Hopper named Grace, enabling up to 2 kilometers of traversal from the lander, along with detailed surface imaging and the potential for crater exploration. Complementing these advancements, a rover equipped with with Nokia's Lunar Surface Communications System will test high-speed, long-range communication solutions tailored for future space applications, further expanding the mission's technological repertoire.

With the anticipated days of sunlight on the lunar surface, IM-2 offers a unique window of opportunity for scientific exploration and experimentation, providing ample space and mass allowances for additional payloads. By pushing the boundaries of lunar science and technology, Intuitive Machines' second lunar mission propels humanity closer to unlocking the Moon's mysteries and the sustainable use of lunar surface infrastructure services.

posted 01-28-2025 08:30 AM               

Intuitive Machines Delivers Second Lunar Mission Lander to Cape Canaveral, Florida

Intuitive Machines announced that it has delivered its IM-2 mission lunar lander, named Athena, to Cape Canaveral, Florida following a historic southeast Texas snowfall.

"Each lunar mission builds on the last, and Athena's arrival in Florida demonstrates our dedication to delivering on the Company's vision to providing a reliable cadence of lunar delivery services," said Intuitive Machines CEO Steve Altemus. "This commitment to flying missions reinforces our broader efforts of developing a heavy cargo lander, establishing a lunar data relay satellite constellation, and providing sustainable infrastructure services at the Moon to enable further exploration of the solar system."

In coordination with SpaceX, the liftoff of the IM-2 lunar mission is targeted for a four-day launch window that opens no earlier than February 26. In case of unfavorable launch conditions, such as inclement weather, backup opportunities will be determined based on the lunar blackout window and other factors.

Commanded using Intuitive Machines' commercial Lunar Data Network, IM-2 will be the Company's second of four manifested lunar missions as part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services ("CLPS") initiative. Through the CLPS initiative and Artemis campaign, NASA is leveraging American companies to send scientific instruments and technology demonstrations to the Moon, advancing our understanding of the Moon and planetary processes, while paving the way for future crewed missions. Athena's mission is designed to validate resource prospecting, mobility, and communications infrastructure in the Moon's Mons Mouton region, one of nine potential Artemis III landing sites.

posted 02-21-2025 01:00 AM               

First (and last?) look at Intuitive Machines' next moon lander's footpad designs

Newly-released photos of the next spacecraft to launch to the moon have revealed a detail that the U.S. company behind it really hopes will soon never be seen again.

Intuitive Machines on Thursday (Feb. 20) shared images of its second Nova-C lunar lander, "Athena," as it was being encapsulated within a protective fairing for its liftoff to deliver NASA and commercial payloads to the moon's surface. The photos show the 14-foot-tall (4.3-meter) probe from just below its launch mount, such that the bottoms of some of its six legs' footpads are in view.

posted 02-26-2025 07:15 PM               

Ad Lunam iterum: Intuitive Machines second lander launches to the moon

The first company to soft land a spacecraft on the moon is now on its way to doing it again — and even more.

Intuitive Machines' second Nova-C lander has set course for the lunar south pole, having left Earth on Wednesday (Feb. 26). Riding atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the robotic probe lifted off at 7:16 p.m. EST (0016 GMT on Feb. 27) on a trailblazing mission to test new ways to explore, communicate and conduct science on the moon.

posted 02-27-2025 08:03 AM               

ntuitive Machines' IM-2 Lunar Lander Successfully Commissioned and En Route to the Moon

Intuitive Machines has announced its IM-2 mission Nova-C class lunar lander, Athena, launched on SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket and successfully commissioned in space, marking the first time humanity has had three lunar landers en route to the Moon at the same time.

Athena established a stable attitude, solar charging, and radio communications contact with the company's mission operations center in Houston after liftoff on Feb. 26. The lander is in excellent health and preparing for a series of planned main engine firings to refine her trajectory ahead of lunar orbit insertion, which is planned for March 3. Intuitive Machines expects a lunar landing opportunity on March 6.

"Athena joining a historic wave of lunar landers on their way to the Moon is an extraordinary moment," said Intuitive Machines CEO Steve Altemus. "While the most vital part of this mission lies ahead, we believe this is a signal that lunar services are rapidly advancing alongside civil and commercial intent to establish a foothold on the Moon to reach further into the Solar System."

The IM-2 mission lifted off from Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 7:16 p.m. ET, February 26, 2025. Athena reached her intended orbit approximately 44 minutes later and established first communication at approximately 8:17 p.m. ET.

The Intuitive Machines IM-2 mission is the company's second lunar mission as part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services ("CLPS") initiative, a key part of NASA's Artemis lunar exploration efforts. The science and technology payloads sent to the Moon's surface as part of CLPS intend to lay the foundation for human missions and a sustainable human presence on the lunar surface.

posted 02-28-2025 11:39 AM               

Athena is approximately halfway to the Moon and continues to communicate with our flight controllers in Houston.

Our flight controllers are preparing for the mission's next milestones, Trajectory Correction Maneuvers (TCM). TCMs are intended to refine Athena's trajectory ahead of lunar orbit insertion.

Our flight controllers used the Company’s Lunar Data Network to command Athena's first planned Trajectory Correction maneuver (TCM) at 11:00 a.m. CT on February 28, 2025, to refine the lander's trajectory ahead of Lunar Orbit Insertion (LOI).

Data from the 6-second full-thrust mainstage engine burn confirmed Athena hit her 9.5 m/s target with approximately .38 m/s accuracy. Propulsion mixture ratios, mass flow rate, and temperature were as predicted. The TCM was nominal per expectations. Athena continues to be in excellent health and is closer to the Moon now than the Earth.

posted 03-01-2025 10:25 AM               

Athena is approximately 152,104 km from the Moon and continues to be in excellent health. Last night, she sent a sequence of photos while using the stars to determine her position in space.

During transit, flight controllers checked on the Micro Nova Hopper, Grace, and verified she was in good health ahead of a challenging mission into a lunar crater.

posted 03-01-2025 07:34 PM               

Athena completed her second planned Trajectory Correction Maneuver (TCM) at 11:00 a.m. CT on March 1, to refine the lander's trajectory ahead of Lunar Orbit Insertion (LOI).

Athena performed as planned across all her systems. The main engine TCM gave flight controllers the desired delta V to converge on Athena's next planned maneuver.

So far, Athena has downlinked four times the amount of data than the entire IM-1 mission. This includes vehicle health, science, and photos like the one she took this morning.

posted 03-03-2025 08:02 AM               

Joined by legendary NASA Flight Director Gene Kranz, Intuitive Machines flight controllers commanded Athena's third and final planned Trajectory Correction Maneuver (TCM) at 12:18 p.m. CST on March 2 to refine the lander's trajectory ahead of Lunar Orbit Insertion (LOI).

Athena is now prepared for her scheduled March 3 LOI maneuver, the longest main engine firing to date. She continues to be in excellent health.

posted 03-03-2025 08:03 AM               

Athena completed her scheduled 492-second main engine Lunar Orbit Insertion (LOI) burn at 6:27 a.m. CST on March 3 and is currently orbiting the Moon. Over the next several hours, flight controllers plan to analyze data to verify the lander's targeted circular orbit and confirm Athena’s expected landing time.

Athena continues to be in excellent health and is expected to send lunar orbit selfies over the next two days before a landing attempt on March 6.

posted 03-03-2025 03:28 PM               

Athena successfully entered her intended circular orbit around the Moon on March 3.

Flight controllers expect Athena to complete 39 lunar orbits until her south pole region landing site has adequate sunlight to power surface operations.

Intuitive Machines expects a landing opportunity on March 6 at 11:32 a.m. CST.

posted 03-04-2025 08:40 AM               

Athena continues to be in excellent health in lunar orbit. Overnight, flight controllers calibrated Athena's landing navigation cameras, which are designed to autonomously track her position and detect hazards during landing.

The image sequence from 0 seconds to 20 seconds in this video is from a public affairs camera and is made up of 240 images taken over a mid-latitude region over a 10-minute span. Each picture is shown as one camera frame.

For reference, Athena captured the image sequence starting at 20 seconds over the Moon's south pole region near her intended landing site, Mons Mouton — one of NASA's designated human landing sites for the Artemis campaign.

posted 03-05-2025 09:40 AM               

Flight controllers confirmed that Athena completed lunar orbit insertion with enough accuracy to forego the IM-2 mission's optional lunar correction maneuver.

Athena continues to be in excellent health, completing lunar orbits every two hours, waiting for the sun to rise on her intended south pole region landing site, Mons Mouton.

Athena's next planned maneuver is Descent Orbit Insertion (DOI), which is designed to lower her orbit to make a landing attempt at 11:32 on March 6.

Intuitive Machines IM-2 update (3/5/25 | 0800 CT)

Athena continues to be in excellent health in Low Lunar Orbit (LLO). She's completed 24 of her 39 orbits, waiting for the sun to rise on her Mons Mouton landing site.

posted 03-06-2025 07:42 AM               

Athena completed Descent Orbit Insertion at 4:33 a.m. CST. Right now, flight controllers are gathering data and checking the lander's landing systems for accuracy.

Intuitive Machines is still planning on an 11:30 a.m. CST landing time.

posted 03-06-2025 04:56 PM               

Intuitive Machines' Athena lands on moon, but 'yet again' at off-nominal angle

For the second time in a little over a year, Intuitive Machines has landed a commercial spacecraft on the moon. And, for the second time, that touchdown has left the lander functioning, but at an "off-nominal" angle.

Intuitive Machines, which in February 2024 achieved the first private soft landing on the moon, seemingly repeated its success on Thursday (March 6).

"Any time that you ship a spacecraft to Florida for flight and end up a week later operating on the moon, I declare that a success," Steve Altemus, chief executive officer at Intuitive Machines, said in a post-landing press conference at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. "Now, we think that we have been very successful to this point, however, I do have to tell you that we don't believe we are in the correct attitude on the surface of the moon yet again."

posted 03-07-2025 08:09 AM               

Intuitive Machines Executes Southernmost Lunar Landing and Operates Payloads

Intuitive Machines has announced the IM-2 mission lunar lander, Athena, landed 250 meters from its intended landing site in the Mons Mouton region of the lunar south pole, inside of a crater. This was the southernmost lunar landing and surface operations ever achieved.

Images downlinked from Athena on the lunar surface confirmed that Athena was on her side. After landing, mission controllers were able to accelerate several program and payload milestones, including NASA's PRIME-1 suite, before the lander's batteries depleted.

With the direction of the sun, the orientation of the solar panels, and extreme cold temperatures in the crater, Intuitive Machines does not expect Athena to recharge. The mission has concluded and teams are continuing to assess the data collected throughout the mission.

This southern pole region is lit by harsh sun angles and limited direct communication with the Earth. This area has been avoided due to its rugged terrain and Intuitive Machines believes the insights and achievements from IM-2 will open this region for further space exploration.

posted 03-07-2025 02:23 PM               

NASA Receives Some Data Before Intuitive Machines Ends Lunar Mission

Shortly after touching down inside a crater on the Moon, carrying NASA technology and science on its IM-2 mission, Intuitive Machines collected some data for the agency before calling an early end of mission at 12:15 a.m. CST Friday.

As part of the company's second Moon delivery for NASA under the agency's CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative and Artemis campaign, the IM-2 mission included a drill to bring lunar soil to the surface and a mass spectrometer to look for the presence of volatiles, or gases, that could one day help provide fuel or breathable oxygen to future Artemis explorers.

Planned to land at Mons Mouton, IM-2 touched down at approximately 11:30 a.m. March 6, more than 1,300 feet (400 meters) from its intended landing site. Intuitive Machines said images collected later confirmed the lander was on its side, preventing it from fully operating the drill and other instruments before its batteries were depleted.

The IM-2 mission landed closer to the lunar South Pole than any previous lander.

"Our targeted landing site near the lunar South Pole is one of the most scientifically interesting, and geographically challenging locations, on the Moon," said Nicky Fox, associate administrator for science at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "Each success and setback are opportunities to learn and grow, and we will use this lesson to propel our efforts to advance science, exploration, and commercial development as we get ready for human exploration of Mars."

The Nova-C lander, named Athena, captured and transmitted images of the landing site before activating the technology and science instruments. Among the data collected, NASA's PRIME-1 (Polar Resources Ice Mining Experiment 1) suite, which includes the lunar drill known as TRIDENT (The Regolith and Ice Drill for Exploring New Terrain), successfully demonstrated the hardware's full range of motion in the harsh environment of space. The Mass Spectrometer Observing Lunar Operations (MSOLO) as part of the PRIME-1 suite of instruments, detected elements likely due to the gases emitted from the lander's propulsion system.

"While this mission didn't achieve all of its objectives for NASA, the work that went into the payload development is already informing other agency and commercial efforts," said Clayton Turner, associate administrator for space technology, NASA Headquarters. "As we continue developing new technologies to support exploration of the Moon and Mars, testing technologies in-situ is crucial to informing future missions. The CLPS initiative remains an instrumental method for achieving this."

Despite the lander's configuration, Intuitive Machines, which was responsible for launch, delivery, and surface operations under its CLPS contract, was able to complete some instrument checkouts and collect 250 megabytes of data for NASA.

"Empowering American companies to deliver science and tech to the Moon on behalf of NASA both produces scientific results and continues development of a lunar economy," said Joel Kearns, deputy associate administrator for Exploration in the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters. "While we're disappointed in the outcome of the IM-2 mission, we remain committed to supporting our commercial vendors as they navigate the very difficult task of landing and operating on the Moon."

NASA's Laser Retroreflector Array, a passive instrument meant to provide a reference point on the lunar surface and does not power on, will remain affixed to the top deck of the lander. Although Intuitive Machines' Nova-C Hopper and Nokia's 4G/LTE Tipping Point technologies, funded in part by NASA, were only able to complete some objectives, they provided insight into maturing technologies ready for infusion into a commercial space application including some checkouts in flight and on the surface.

posted 03-13-2025 03:38 PM               

IM-2: The Southernmost Step in Human Exploration

This was the southernmost lunar landing ever achieved — a historic step into one of the most extreme environments in the solar system.

By Steve Altemus, Intuitive Machines CEO

Spaceflight is a complex endeavor. It is just the way it is. Aerospace is unforgiving, but it's where we thrive — pushing boundaries, overcoming challenges, and pulling back the darkness to extend humanity's reach into the solar system. IM-2 was no exception. For every mission, Intuitive Machines must accept a degree of risk and the possibility of failure. The key to our success is to learn, iterate, and continue moving forward.

The goal was audacious: land at the Moon's south pole, a region marked by jagged terrain, deep craters, and brutal cold. Past missions have avoided this area — where the Sun cuts low across the horizon, casting long shadows that obscure hazards and limit direct data transmission with Earth. It's also a region that we believe holds the keys to the future of space exploration. Scientists believe frozen water is trapped beneath the surface, and unlocking these resources could fuel humanity's next leap to the red planet

On March 6, 2025, our lunar lander, Athena, touched down inside a shallow crater on the Mons Mouton region of the Moon after traveling over one million kilometers. This was the southernmost lunar landing ever achieved — a historic step into one of the most extreme environments in the solar system. While Athena was not upright after landing, the mission pressed forward. Our teams accelerated payload operations, including NASA's PRIME-1 drill suite, transmitting critical data before Athena's batteries depleted. In just 12 hours of surface operations, we gathered extraordinarily valuable data for our customers, including validating Nokia's 4G/LTE network operation, proving that our technology and expertise can deliver in the face of adversity.

IM-2 was about more than just landing — it was about demonstrating that Intuitive Machines has the world's most capable Lunar Data Network. From the moment Athena launched, every mission step validated our ability to communicate and operate in deep space. We executed precision orbital maneuvers, autonomously guided our spacecraft across 39 lunar orbits, and performed high-bandwidth data transmissions that outpaced IM-1's capabilities by five times.

The strength of our Lunar Data Network was tested in real-time, not just for our mission but for others reaching for space. During the mission, two rideshare customers faced critical situations in orbit. Intuitive Machines' Lunar Data Network stepped in when these payloads needed assistance, providing data transmission support. We did this because space exploration isn't a singular effort — it takes all of us working together to push the envelope together.

These advancements directly support our execution of NASA's $4.8 billion Near Space Network Services (NSNS) contract, helping secure Intuitive Machines' role as a leader in lunar communications and national security space operations. The IM-2 mission confirmed that we are sending data to and from the Moon and building the highway to enable a long-term lunar presence.

IM-2 also broke new ground in the performance of our proprietary propulsion system, which was designed, 3D printed, and tested in-house. Using renewable cryogenic liquid methane and liquid oxygen — materials present elsewhere in our solar system — IM-2 reached lunar orbit in only five days and validated the complete propulsion system through six main engine firings. We believe this system is also capable of supporting future missions to Mars and beyond.

In the mission's final moments, Athena powered down. But unexpectedly, the lander woke up one last time, sending a transmission that resonated beyond technology—it was personal. Athena's last data transmission contained the names of every Intuitive Machines team member who made her mission possible.

If someone had told us six years ago that we would attempt something this ambitious with the same outcome, we would have charged forward with the same toughness and competence. The razor-thin margins of lunar success don't deter us; they define us. IM-2 was another step in proving that Intuitive Machines is not just landing on the Moon — we believe we are leading the way in commercializing space and building the infrastructure for humanity's next frontier. And we're just getting started.