IM-2

IM-2 is an upcoming lunar mission that will be carried out in 2024 by Intuitive Machines for NASA's CLPS program, using a Nova-C lunar lander. The company named this lander Athena. The mission aims to uncover the presence and amount of lunar water ice using PRIME-1, which consists of a drill and mass spectrometer. The lander will carry a Micro Nova Hopper, a drone that will utilize its neutron spectrometer in the PSR (permanently shadowed region) of the nearby Marston crater. If successful, this would provide the first measurement of hydrogen on the surface in the PSR, a key indicator of water.

Background
The IM-1 mission in February 2024 followed the Peregrine mission by Astrobotic Technology, which launched in January 2024. The Peregrine landing at Gruithuisen Domes was abandoned when a propellant leak was observed after launch, and the spacecraft was guided to re-enter Earth's atmosphere. The IM-1 Odysseus's "rough" soft Moon landing was the first soft lunar landing of any kind for an American-made spacecraft since Apollo 17 in 1972, setting the stage for IM-2 to launch some time in Q4 of 2024.

Mission hardware
IM was selected in October 2020 in order to land its second Nova-C lander near the lunar south pole. NASA has designated the landing site at a ridge near the Shackleton crater, where there could be ice below the surface. After the "rough" soft landing of IM-1, several adjustments were made, including improvements to the primary laser rangefinder system, which helps determine variables such as altitude and horizontal velocity.

The primary payload, PRIME-1, includes the TRIDENT ice drill to sample ice from below the lunar surface and the MSolo mass spectrometer to measure the amount of ice in the samples. ILO-1 prime contractor Canadensys is working to deliver "a flight-ready low-cost optical payload for the ILO-1 mission, ruggedized for the Moon South Pole environment". It could potentially be ready for integration on the IM-2 mission. A lunar communications satellite will be deployed on this mission to facilitate communications between the lander and ground stations on Earth. Spaceflight will deliver rideshare payloads on this mission aboard its Sherpa EScape (Sherpa-ES) space tug called Geo Pathfinder.

The MiniPIX TPX3 SPACE payload, provided by the Czech company ADVACAM, will be onboard the Nova-C lunar lander. This payload is designed to monitor the radiation field on the Moon and help understand how to protect crew and equipment from the negative effects of cosmic rays. This marks the first Czech payload planned to be delivered to the Moon's surface.

During the mission, IM will also deploy a second vehicle, its μNova (Micro-Nova) Hopper. Micro-Nova will separate from the Nova-C lander after landing and function as a standalone hopper lander, exploring multiple difficult-to-reach areas such as deep craters on the lunar surface, by firing hydrazine rockets in controlled bursts to propel itself short distances. It will hop across craters in search of lunar ice, which could contain water critical to future crewed missions to the Moon. Water ice could be processed into rocket propellant or used to support a permanent lunar habitat in the future. Micro-Nova is also planned to take the first pictures from inside craters at the lunar south pole, and will be able to carry a 1-kilogram payload for more than 2.5 kilometers. The hopper will explore permanently shaded regions and could "fly into a lava tube and report images back", according to IM co-founder and CTO Tim Crain.

Space technology company Lunar Outpost will send their first lunar rover, the Mobile Autonomous Prospecting Platform (MAPP), on this mission in partnership with Nokia Bell Labs and IM. MAPP will collect lunar samples for NASA under a contract worth just $1, which is symbolic of a new incentive for the emerging commercial space industry to access resources in space. MAPP will have a mass of 5-10 kilograms, a payload mass of up to 15 kilograms, and a top speed of 10cm/s. On its multi-day journey, the rover will autonomously map the lunar surface, capture stereo images and thermal data, and inspect samples of lunar regolith in a special bin mounted on its wheels. Photos of the samples and other data will be transmitted through radio equipment and antennas to communicate with the Nova-C lander. MAPP will snap 3D images and record videos using the RESOURCE camera, developed by MIT. It will also deploy MIT's AstroAnt, a miniature rover the size of a matchbox, to conduct contactless temperature measurements as it drives around on MAPP's roof.

A collaboration in order to demonstrate 4G cellular connectivity, in partnership with Nokia Bell Labs and NASA will be aboard the lander. Nokia's equipment is a Network-In-a-Box and will connect the Nova-C lander with Lunar Outpost's MAPP rover and IM's Micro-Nova Hopper. This 4G/LTE network will provide more bandwidth than the more conventional ultra-high frequency (UHF) systems used for space communication. Nokia says they hope that future missions will use shared infrastructure to interlink bases on the lunar surface.

Prior to launch
In May 2024 the company announced that IM-2 was entering the final assembly stage. In May it was reported the company was upgrading both software and hardware, including the landing legs in order for better precision and control during descent and landing on the IM-2 mission.