Are you ready for round two of the lunar lottery? In a historic moment for space exploration, a privately developed lunar lander is set to launch from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Built by Houston-based company Intuitive Machines, this vehicle will be the second US-made lunar lander to launch from Florida in just over a month. The renaissance in American lunar landers is part of NASA’s program to return humans to the Moon and establish a more permanent presence.
Lowering the cost of transportation services is a key objective of NASA’s program, and these privately built lunar landers are designed to do just that. “We’re trying to create a marketplace where a marketplace does not exist,” said Trent Martin, vice president of space systems at Intuitive Machines. “To do that, we have to do it in a cost-conscious way.”
However, successfully reaching the Moon is no easy feat. The first commercial US lander, Astrobotic’s Peregrine vehicle, encountered a setback when one of its propulsion tanks ruptured after launch. At NASA’s request, Astrobotic disposed of the spacecraft safely. Now, it’s Intuitive Machines’ turn to prove their capabilities.
One of the unique features of Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C lander is its main engine, which uses cryogenic propellants—liquid oxygen and liquid methane. These propellants are less toxic than hypergolic fuels and allow Nova-C to have a more powerful engine that can reach the Moon in days rather than weeks or months. However, working with cryogenic fuels presents its own challenges. They must be kept chilled, limiting their storage time. As a result, the Nova-C lander will be fueled just a couple of hours before liftoff.
“It’s not trivial to load the liquid oxygen and liquid methane into the vehicle,” said Bill Gerstenmaier, vice president of build and flight reliability for SpaceX. The company had to modify the second stage of the Falcon 9 rocket to add propellants onto the Nova-C lander at the launch pad shortly before liftoff. Despite completing two tests of this new procedure, a non-nominal methane temperature reading led to the first launch attempt being scrubbed a couple of hours before liftoff.
Now, Intuitive Machines and SpaceX will make another attempt on Thursday morning. If successful, the Nova-C spacecraft will reach the Moon in just six days. The landing attempt is scheduled for February 22, targeting the Malapert Crater near the Moon’s south pole. If the landing is successful, it would be the most poleward soft landing of any previous vehicle.
However, landing on the Moon is extremely challenging. Joel Kearns, deputy associate administrator for exploration in NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, acknowledged the difficulty of the task. NASA is paying about $118 million for the delivery of six scientific payloads to the lunar surface, along with six small private payloads. Kearns emphasized that these initial deliveries are viewed as learning experiences, and failure would not be a disaster.
So why is NASA funding missions that may fail? The hope is that private companies will gain expertise in flying vehicles to the Moon, making the service more routine and cost-effective in the long run. By reducing costs, NASA aims to open up commercial development on the Moon and increase access to its surface.
In taking these short-term risks, NASA is paving the way for long-term gains in lunar exploration. The launch of Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C lander represents another step forward in America’s journey back to the Moon and sets the stage for future missions and discoveries.