A fresh private moon landing mission is on the horizon, with Intuitive Machines aiming for a potential launch in November.
Intuitive Machines has indicated that its moon lander could be prepared for takeoff as early as November 15, pending final preparations. This places the company in a position to become the first private endeavor to successfully land on the moon.
According to Steve Altemus, co-founder and CEO of Intuitive Machines, their Nova-C lander is fully constructed, and they anticipate delivering a ready-to-go lunar lander by September. However, the specific launch date aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is subject to the busy schedule at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. The launch window currently extends until November 20, with a backup opportunity in December.
Funded by NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program, Intuitive Machines’ IM-1 mission aims to deploy scientific instruments and hardware on the moon. CLPS is part of the broader Artemis program, which seeks to send astronauts to the moon’s south pole by the mid-2020s at the earliest.
Earlier this year, NASA requested a change in the landing location for IM-1 to the moon’s south pole to align with the Artemis 3 landing zone planned for 2025 or later. This adjustment resulted in a delay for IM-1’s launch. Despite the delay, no other private mission has achieved a moon landing in the meantime.
The Japanese Hakuto-R mission by ispace experienced a crash during a landing attempt in April, while Israel’s Beresheet lander by SpaceIL also failed during a lunar surface attempt in 2019.
Another CLPS-funded U.S. company, Astrobotic, has temporarily postponed its Peregrine landing mission due to delays with the United Launch Alliance Vulcan Centaur rocket, which is set to launch it. The earliest possible timeframe for Centaur and Peregrine’s launch is now late 2023.
Several other landing missions are in progress through CLPS, but Peregrine and IM-1 seem to be the closest to launch based on recent updates.
