WASHINGTON – On January 13, SpaceX obtained contracts for the launch of a commercial lunar landing mission supported by NASA, as well as a privately funded satellite to track methane emissions.
Intuitive Machines has announced that it has selected SpaceX to launch its IM-2 lunar landing mission on a Falcon 9 rocket no earlier than 2022. IM-2 will land in the lunar polar region of the moon with cargo loads arranged by the agency’s commercial moon charge. Services (CLPS) program in October.
The IM-2 mission will fly a drilling experiment called Polar Resources Ice Mining Experiment 1 (PRIME-1), which will search for water ice below the lunar surface. Intuitive machines said that, in addition to the PRIME-1 drill, two other NASA technological payloads will fly on the lander.
Intuitive Machines also selected SpaceX for its first landing mission, IM-1. The spacecraft will be launched later this year as one of the first two CLPS landing missions. Both missions will use a lander design called Nova-C.
“The launch of Nova-C on a rocket with a proven track record of reliability and outstanding value is an assurance to NASA and our commercial payload customers that IM is committed to landing in crescent missions,” said Steve Altemus, president and CEO of Intuitive Machines, said in a company statement.
Intuitive Machines is one of three companies that have received NASA CLPS awards so far. Masten Space Systems, which won a CLPS landing mission to the south pole of the moon in April 2020, chose SpaceX in August to launch its XL-1 lander. Masten said at the time that his SpaceX contract did not cover a specific launch vehicle, but rather a service to bring the spacecraft on the company’s moon to the moon.
Astrobotic, which won an initial CLPS award with Intuitive Machines in May 2019, will fly the mission during the inaugural launch of the Vulcan Centaur by United Launch Alliance at the end of 2021. Astrobotic won a CLPS award in June won for delivering NASA’s VIPER lunar rover to the South Pole. of the moon late in 2023, but did not announce the launch vehicle for that mission.
In a separate announcement, MethaneSAT, a subsidiary of Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), said it would launch its eponymous satellite on a Falcon 9 in October 2022. The spacecraft will be launched through SpaceX’s smallsat rideshare program, project spokesman Jon Coifman said.
‘SpaceX provides the readiness and reliability we need to deliver our instrument in orbit and start streaming data emissions as soon as possible. We could not have asked for a more capable launch partner, ”said Steven Hamburg, a methaneSAT project, in a statement.
The 350-kilogram satellite, built by a team that includes Ball Aerospace and Blue Canyon Technologies, will conduct high-resolution mapping of methane emissions, helping scientists and environmental advocates identify greenhouse gas oil and gas facility sources. EDF will make data from MethaneSAT freely available.
EDF received a $ 100 million grant from the Bezos Earth Fund on November 16, which will use the organization for activities that include the completion and launch of MethaneSAT. The fund, which plans to spend $ 10 million on climate change initiatives, was founded by Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon and launch vehicle company Blue Origin.