The Nova - C lunar lander at Intuitive Machines ’ headquarters in Houston . It ’s since been shipped to NASA ’s Kennedy Space Center for consolidation with a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket for launching as part of NASA ’s CLPS initiative and Artemis military campaign . Intuitive Machines
Only five countries have achieved a controlled , soft landing on the moon , but none of them have been commercial missions .
Vying to become the first individual society to attain the feat , Nipponese business firm ispace sent its Hakuto - R Series 1 lander to our nearest neighbor last class . But in the net stage of its trajectory , the space vehicle lost control and break apart on the airfoil .
The Nova-C lunar lander at Intuitive Machines’ headquarters in Houston. It’s since been shipped to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center for integration with a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket for launch as part of NASA’s CLPS initiative and Artemis campaign.Intuitive Machines
More recently , Pittsburgh - based Astrobotic successfully set up its nomadic lander on a ULA rocket from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida , setting it on course for a rendezvous with the moon that was supposed to take place next calendar month . But within hour of reaching blank , the team reported a critical fuel leak that meant the spacecraft had no chance of progress to its goal . Peregrineburned up in Earth ’s atmospherelast hebdomad .
Next up is Houston - based Intuitive Machines , which is project to set up its Nova - C lunar lander from Kennedy next calendar month . Will Intuitive Machines become the first private house to attain a indulgent landing place on the lunar month ? Well , the recently break down attempts by ispace and Astrobotic confirm just how hard it is to reach the feat , so we can only trust Intuitive Machines has done the necessary work to ensure a successful lunar landing place .
“ A successful landing will aid support the CLPS model for commercial payload speech to the lunar open , ” NASAsaidthis week .
The Nova - C lander will have a bun in the oven with it various scientific discipline instruments focus on plume - surface interaction , space weather / lunar open interactions , radio set astronomy , preciseness landing technologies , and a communicating and sailing node for succeeding sovereign seafaring engineering .
Intuitive Machines ’ lander is a hexagonal piston chamber , 4 meters grandiloquent and 1.57 time broad , and with six landing place leg .
After set in motion from Kennedy on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket , the lander will head for the moon ’s Malapert A crater near the South Pole . At that stage , all centre will be on whether it can make a successful soft landing , sending it straight into the record rule book .
