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Intuitive Machines<\/a> is looking to succeed where past ventures have failed with its inaugural lunar lander mission, which would mark the first time a private company has landed a spacecraft on the moon \u2014 ever.<\/p>\n The mission is poised to lift off on a SpaceX rocket at 12:57 a.m. EST tomorrow from the launch company\u2019s pad at Florida\u2019s Kennedy Space Center. Should the launch be delayed, SpaceX will have additional opportunities on February 15 and 16.<\/p>\n Should everything go to plan, after a roughly seven-day journey the spacecraft will enter lunar orbit. Around 24 hours later, on February 22, the Nova-C lander will make a soft touchdown on the moon\u2019s surface. The lander is targeting an area near a crater called Malapert A near the lunar south pole, an area that is suspected to be home to plentiful frozen water.<\/p>\n The two companies announced they were a \u201cgo\u201d for launch on Monday, saying in a statement that it had completed analysis of data from the final lunar lander fueling tests. Those tests were critical because of Nova-C lander\u2019s unique propellant system: It is using liquid oxygen and methane propellants that must be loaded while the lander is encapsulated in the Falcon 9. (Usually spacecraft are fueled before being loaded onto the rocket.)<\/p>\n The IM-1 mission \u2014 a first for Intuitive Machines \u2014 marks the second time this year that a U.S. company is attempting to land a spacecraft on the moon. The first mission, conducted by Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic Technology, came to a very quick demise after the spacecraft suffered a catastrophic propulsion leak<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n Intuitive Machines\u2019 mission also follows that of Japanese firm ispace, whose own lander experienced a software glitch just above the lunar surface, which caused the spacecraft to misjudge its distance from the surface and crash.<\/p>\n Indeed, the recent successes on the lunar surface can be claimed by governments, specifically that of India\u2019s Chandrayaan-3 moon mission last August<\/span><\/a> and Japan\u2019s SLIM lander that touched down (upside down<\/span><\/a>) in January. But landing on the moon is hard, and even nations have had failures; a recent notable example is Israel\u2019s Beresheet lander, which also crashed into the moon in 2019.<\/p>\n The 14-foot-tall spacecraft is carrying six scientific and research payloads for NASA, which commissioned the launch for around $118 million as part of its Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program. Astrobotic was also a CLPS awardee. The lander, called Odysseus, will also be carrying payloads for a handful of commercial customers.<\/p>\n But whether or not it succeeds at this first mission, Intuitive Machines has already scored additional NASA contracts for two more moon missions: one that could take place in the fourth quarter of this year and a third scheduled in early 2025.<\/p>\n SpaceX<\/a> will host a live show of the launch on its website.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n