NASA Selects Intuitive Machines for New Lunar Science Delivery - India Education Diary

NASA has awarded Intuitive Machines of Houston a contract to deliver research, including science investigations and a technology demonstration, to the Moon in 2024.

The commercial delivery is part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative and the Artemis program.

Known as a lunar swirl, Reiner Gamma is on the western edge of the Moon, as seen from Earth, and is one of the most visible lunar swirls.

Scientists continue to learn what lunar swirls are, how they form, and their relationship to the Moon’s magnetic field.

expand our capabilities and learn more about this interesting region,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington.

With more and more science and technology demonstrations on the lunar surface, we can help prepare for sustainable astronaut missions through Artemis.”.

Intuitive Machines will receive $77.5 million for the contract and is responsible for end-to-end delivery services, including payload integration, delivery from Earth to the surface of the Moon, and payload operations.

“These investigations show how CLPS is capable of delivering payloads to the lunar surface that will address our primary scientific goals for lunar exploration and discovery,” said Chris Culbert, manager of the CLPS initiative at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.

“We aim to learn more about lunar swirls and this payload manifest is designed to obtain data unique to the geographical feature of Reiner Gamma.”.

Lunar Vertex is funded through the agency’s Science Mission Directorate and is led by the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland.

Cooperative Autonomous Distributed Robotic Exploration (CADRE) consists of mobile robots programmed to work as an autonomous team to explore the lunar surface, collect data, and map different areas of the Moon in 3D.

CADRE uses its inertial measurement unit, stereo cameras, and a Sun sensor to track the position of each robot as they explore the lunar surface.

Lunar Space Environment Monitor (LUSEM) uses a pair of apertures to detect high-energy particles on the lunar surface

As NASA continues plans for multiple commercial deliveries to the Moon, future payloads that may be delivered with CLPS could also include other rovers, power sources, and science experiments, including technology demonstrations to later be infused into the Artemis program