![]() Intuitive Machines also was one of three companies that won recent Air Force Research Lab contracts to work on designs of nuclear-powered spacecraft. 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. The company has three NASA CLPS awards for lunar lander missions but has also moved into other business areas. We have other business lines that diversify us and insulate us from failure.” “But we have multiple missions to the moon. I’m pretty open about that,” Altemus said. The same high bay that has the completed IM-1 lander also has components for IM-2, ready to be assembled in the coming months. “Therefore, I think our odds are higher.” More than just IM-1Ĭompany executives emphasized they are not betting the company on a single lander mission. “Each one of those things that we witnessed in terms of anomalies that caused the failures of those missions, we have internalized,” he said. It is also based on lessons learned from those failed missions. ![]() That’s based, he said, on the experience the company has built up with key technologies on the lander, such as precision landing and its propulsion system. Steve Altemus, chief executive of Intuitive Machines, estimated the odds of success at “upwards of 65% to 75%,” higher than the historical average. Crain said Nova-C has dissimilar redundant IMUs to avoid a scenario like that. ![]() For example, the Beresheet lander suffered problems with its inertial measurement units (IMUs) during its descent. He noted the company paid close attention to failed landing attempts to see if their Nova-C design was also susceptible to similar failure modes. Beresheet, by Israeli venture SpaceIL, crashed trying to land on the moon in 2019, while HAKUTO-R M1 from Japanese company ispace crashed in a landing attempt in April.įewer than 45% of lunar landing missions, dating back to the beginning of the Space Age, have been successful, but Intuitive Machines executives expressed confidence in the changes IM-1 will make it to the surface successfully. IM-1 is seeking to become the first non-governmental spacecraft to successfully land on the moon. 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. 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. 16, but we’ve got to work through that pad congestion.” There is a backup launch opportunity in mid-December if IM-1 does not launch in November. “We’re working with SpaceX to try and thread the needle,” Crain said. IM-1 is required to launch from LC-39A because only that pad is configured to fuel the lander with methane and liquid oxygen propellants shortly before liftoff. There are several launches ahead of IM-1 on that pad, including the Falcon Heavy launch of Psyche that was recently delayed a week to Oct. The biggest issue now for launch is out of the company’s hands: “pad congestion” at Launch Complex 39A, the launch site for the mission. “We’re really pleased about where we are.” 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 ready to go,” Tim Crain, chief technology officer of Intuitive Machines, said in an interview. 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. The lander will separate from the upper stage 32 minutes after launch and begin a five-day journey to the moon. That launch is scheduled for a six-day period that opens Nov. 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. The company unveiled its completed Nova-C lander at its new headquarters here Oct. HOUSTON - Intuitive Machines’ first lunar lander is complete and ready to ship for a launch next month as executives say they’re cautiously optimistic about the prospects of a successful landing.
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