Second Lunar Lander Business Mission Blasts Off In 2022

Space exploration startup Intuitive Machines, which will become the first private company to land a commercial lander on the moon this October, said SpaceX will also launch its second lunar lander mission in 2022.

The Texas-based company announced it had again selected SpaceX to launch its IM-2 lunar lander mission carrying the company's Nova-C lander. The lander will touch down at the south polar region of the moon for the company's second mission in two years.

The first mission, IM-1, is scheduled for launch on Oct. 11. A Nova-C will attempt to land in a deep, narrow valley named Vallis Schröteri in the Oceanus Procellarum, or the Ocean of Storms.

The main payload of IM-2 will be drilling experiment called Polar Resources Ice Mining Experiment 1 (PRIME-1). The drill will probe for water ice below the lunar surface. Intuitive Machines said two other NASA technology payloads will fly on the lander.

"Signing with SpaceX for our IM-2 Polar Mission, our second scheduled lunar landing, is more than affordable quality lunar transport," said IM President and CEO Steve Altemus.

"Launching Nova-C on a rocket with a proven record of reliability and outstanding value is an assurance to NASA and our commercial payload customers that IM is dedicated to sticking the landing in back-to-back moon missions."

The payloads to be carried by both IM lunar missions were arranged through NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program. In November 2018, Intuitive Machines was selected by NASA as one of nine companies granted the right to bid on the CLPS. This program focuses on exploring and using the natural resources of the moon.

In May 2019, NASA announced it had awarded Intuitive Machines $77 million to build and launch its Nova-C moon lander. Nova-C will become the first lander under CLPS to land on the moon.

Intuitive Machines is one of three companies that have received NASA CLPS funding so far. The two others are Masten Space Systems and Astrobotic Technology.

Masten received $75.9 million from NASA to build and launch a lander called XL-1 that will deploy eight payloads to the lunar South Pole. This mission, which will be Masten's first space flight, is scheduled for late 2022

Astrobotic Technology received $199.5 million to carry the NASA VIPER rover to the moon in November 2023. The VIPER rover will prospect for lunar resources in permanently shadowed areas of the lunar South Pole region. It will also map the distribution and concentration of water ice.