Constellations, Launch, New Space and more…
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“Nova-C”
Intuitive Machines Strikes Gold with Columbia Sportswear Partnership
Nova-C lander on moon with Columbia Sportwear Omni Heat Infinity reflectivity material. (Credit: Intuitive Machines)

HOUSTON, Texas, December 9, 2021 (Intuitive Machines PR) – Columbia Sportswear’s new Omni-Heat Infinity reflective technology will be incorporated into Intuitive Machines’ upcoming mission to the Moon. Selected by NASA to build and launch their Nova-C lunar lander, Intuitive Machines’ mission will mark the United States’ first return to the lunar surface in 50 years.

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  • December 12, 2021
NASA Selects Intuitive Machines for New Lunar Science Delivery
Nova-C lander for the IM-3 mission taking four NASA investigations to Reiner Gamma. (Credit: Intuitive Machines)

HOUSTON (NASA PR) — NASA has awarded Intuitive Machines of Houston a contract to deliver research, including science investigations and a technology demonstration, to the Moon in 2024. The commercial delivery is part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative and the Artemis program.

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  • November 17, 2021
Northrop Grumman Announces Team for NASA’s Next-Generation Lunar Terrain Vehicle
Lunar terrain vehicle (Credit: Northrop Grumman)

DULLES, Va. – Nov. 16, 2021 – Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC), is teaming up with AVL, Intuitive Machines, Lunar Outpost, and Michelin to design a Lunar Terrain Vehicle (LTV) to transport NASA’s Artemis astronauts around the lunar surface. This team provides multi-disciplinary expertise that is ready to deliver an innovative solution to NASA for lunar surface mobility.

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  • November 16, 2021
NASA, Intuitive Machines Announce Landing Site Location for Lunar Drill
Nova-C lander on the lunar surface. (Credit: Intuitive Machines)

By Hillary Smith
NASA’s Langley Research Center

HAMPTON, Va. — 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.

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  • November 3, 2021
Spaceflight Announces Rideshare Mission to the Moon
Sherpa EScape (Credit: Spaceflight Inc.)

SEATTLE, Sept. 14, 2021 (Spaceflight Inc. PR) — Spaceflight Inc., the leader in global launch services, today announced a breakthrough cislunar rideshare mission: “GEO Pathfinder.” As a secondary payload on board Intuitive Machines’ IM-2 South Pole Mission, Spaceflight will execute rideshare deployments in trans-lunar orbit, low-lunar orbit and beyond to geosynchronous equatorial orbit (GEO). Spaceflight will utilize a lunar flyby with its new propulsive transfer vehicle, Sherpa EScape (Sherpa-ES), to deliver a payload from GeoJump, a new company dedicated to providing smallsat rideshare opportunities to GEO, that will also contain an Orbit Fab in-space fueling payload. The mission is slated to launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 no earlier than Q4 2022. 

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  • September 14, 2021
Intuitive Machines Selects MDA Lunar Landing Sensors to Support for U.S. Mission to Moon in 50 Years
Nova-C landers (Credit: Intuitive Machines)

Contract represents the fourth Lunar sensor award for MDA as the number of planned Moon missions grows

BRAMPTON, Ont. (MDA PR) — MDA Ltd. (TSX:MDA), a leading provider of advanced technology and services to the rapidly-expanding global space industry, today announced that it has signed an agreement with Intuitive Machines, LLC to provide Lunar landing sensors to support its upcoming IM-1 and IM-2 missions. As a result, MDA landing sensors will support the first soft landing US mission to the Moon since 1972, scheduled for early 2022. MDA landing sensors will also support the first ever mining mission to the South pole of the Moon in late 2022.

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  • August 24, 2021
IM-2 South Pole Mission Adds Secondary Rideshare Opportunity via Spaceflight Inc.

HOUSTON (Intuitive Machines PR) — Intuitive Machines has partnered with global launch services provider Spaceflight Inc. to provide secondary rideshare services on its upcoming IM-2 South Pole Mission, scheduled to launch no earlier than December 2022. Utilizing the excess capacity on Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C lunar lander, Spaceflight Inc. will offer rideshare opportunities onboard its next-gen Sherpa Orbital Transfer Vehicle (OTV) for deployment into trans-lunar and low-lunar orbits and beyond to […]

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  • August 18, 2021
Lunar Traffic to Pick Up as NASA Readies for Robotic Commercial Moon Deliveries
This photograph of a nearly full Moon was taken from the Apollo 8 spacecraft at a point above 70 degrees east longitude. Mare Crisium, the circular, dark-colored area near the center, is near the eastern edge of the Moon as viewed from Earth. (Credits: NASA)

HOUSTON (NASA PR) — NASA is working on various science instruments and technology experiments from the agency that will operate on the Moon once American companies on Commercial Lunar Payload Services  (CLPS) contracts deliver them to the lunar surface. Through CLPS flights, NASA is buying a complete commercial robotic lunar delivery service and does not provide launch services, own the lander or lead landing operations.

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  • February 4, 2021