NASA has selected Intuitive Machines, a Houston, Texas-based space exploration company, to deliver payloads to the moon’s south pole region.
The space agency said Thursday it awarded Intuitive Machines a $116.9 million task order through the Commercial Lunar Payload Services program, which aims to study the moon as part of the Artemis campaign.
According to Joel Kearns, deputy associate administrator for exploration at NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, the task order marks the space agency’s 10th CLPS award and the fourth planned delivery for the lunar south pole.
The location is a major area of interest for NASA because it is permanently in the shadows and could provide information on the origins of water on Earth and throughout the solar system.
The space agency previously awarded task orders to Intuitive Machines for payloads bound for the moon. The company already delivered six payloads to Malapert A crater on the south side of the moon in early 2024.
Intuitive Machines’ upcoming delivery will include various scientific instruments designed to conduct experiments on the lunar surface in preparation for long-term human presence on the natural satellite.
Among the instruments that will be sent to the moon is a miniaturized laboratory from the European Space Agency for studying the composition of the soil about 1 meter beneath the lunar surface. The experiment will aim to characterize volatiles trapped in the cold temperatures of the moon’s southern region.
NASA is also sending a lunar compact infrared imaging system to map the surface’s composition and temperature distribution and a fluxgate magnetometer to study the moon’s magnetic fields.
“The instruments on this newly awarded flight will help us achieve multiple scientific objectives and strengthen our understanding of the moon’s environment,” said Chris Culbert, manager of the CLPS initiative at NASA’s Johnson Space Center.
