Intuitive Machines’ second moon mission remains to be on observe to launch earlier than the tip of this yr, after the corporate solely needed to make minor changes to the lunar lander design, executives mentioned throughout an earnings name Thursday.
The corporate made historical past earlier this yr when it turned the primary industrial firm to land a spacecraft on the lunar floor. That mission, known as IM-1, was not with out its quirks — the lander finally got here in slightly too sizzling and ended up tipped over on the floor — however it proved out the lander’s core parts, engine, and subsystems.
That very same lander class, which the corporate calls Nova-C, will likely be returning to the moon later this yr in that second mission. Critically, the IM-2 mission will ship NASA payloads that can search the lunar South Pole for water ice, a useful resource that might finally be processed into propulsion for rockets or to help a everlasting lunar astronaut habitat.
The Intuitive Machines staff recognized simply “a handful of changes” that will likely be carried out on the second lander, CEO Steve Altemus mentioned through the earnings name.
“We actually don’t see any impacts to the schedule primarily based on the adjustments from IM-1,” he mentioned. “They’re pretty simple.”
Among the many adjustments that the corporate will likely be implementing are enhancements to the laser rangefinder change system, he added. The laser rangefinders are a navigational subsystem on the lander, and so they assist decide variables like altitude and horizontal velocity. Mission controllers discovered very late within the recreation that the laser rangefinders on the primary lander weren’t purposeful — as a result of engineers didn’t activate a bodily change on the element whereas it was nonetheless on the bottom. (They managed to land the spacecraft anyway by way of some very fast considering.)
The second mission could also be impacted as a result of NASA remains to be finalizing the touchdown web site, which will likely be someplace on the lunar south pole on a ridge close to the Shackleton crater. When the house company initially introduced the touchdown web site location for the IM-2 mission, they famous that information from the Lunar Orbiter spacecraft indicated that the world may have ice beneath the floor.
Intuitive Machines ended the fourth quarter of 2023 with $30.6 million in income and a money stability of simply $4.5 million. That quantity was given a major enhance after an intuitional investor exercised $50.6 million in warrants and the corporate closed a $10 million strategic fairness funding.
On account of these investments, as of March 1, the corporate’s money stability swelled to just about $55 million — the biggest stability “relative to any quarter-end” because the firm went public in February 2023.
Past the second moon mission, 2024 will seemingly be a pivotal yr for the corporate, which is awaiting the choice on NASA awards that might be extraordinarily profitable. That features the award for the Lunar Terrain Automobile, which NASA will announce early subsequent month, and the following lunar lander contract below the company’s Business Lunar Payload Companies program.
