Intuitive Machines made history last year as the first private entity to put a robot on the Moon, though the triumph was marred by the lander tipping onto its side -- something it hopes to avoid this time around.
If all goes well, it will touch down around March 6 at the vast Mons Mouton plateau, a site closer to the lunar south pole than any previously targeted.
It is designed to traverse the Moon’s rugged inclines, boulders, and craters -- a valuable capability to support future crewed missions.
Intuitive Machines CEO Trent Martin spoke excitedly about the hopper, emphasizing that such drones could complement rovers in future missions by going “down into extreme environments where you can’t drive,“ including lunar pits and underground passages carved by ancient lava flows.
Now, the US is working to make private missions routine through the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program, a public-private collaboration aimed at delivering NASA hardware to the surface at a fraction of the cost of traditional missions.
Sticking the landing
It came down too fast, caught a foot on the surface and tipped over, coming to rest at a 30-degree angle. This limited its ability to generate solar power and prevented it from completing NASA experiments under a $118 million contract.
Landing on the Moon is challenging due to the absence of an atmosphere, which rules out the use of parachutes.
Martin said the company had made key improvements -- including better cabling for the laser altimeter, an instrument that provides altitude and velocity readings and helps select a safe landing site.
Also hitching a ride on this rocket will be NASA’s Lunar Trailblazer probe, which will enter orbit after a four-month journey and begin a two-year mission to study the distribution of different forms of water on the Moon.
These missions come at a delicate time for NASA, amid speculation that it may scale back or cancel its astronaut program to the Moon in favor of Mars -- a key goal of both President Donald Trump and his close advisor Elon Musk, SpaceX tycoon.
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