It will try again on February 14, after a mission launched on January 8 failed due to the loss of fuel on the ship.
Space This is the second US attempt in as many weeks to return to the Moon, so far with robotic missions, since the end of the Apollo program half a century ago. Astrobotic’s Peregrine lander launched on January 8, but due to fuel loss, the craft was unable to reach its scheduled destination on February 23. Both missions are part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Cargo Services (CLPS) initiative, in which NASA contracts with private companies to build and launch spacecraft.
Intuitive Machines’ first flight, IM-1, will use the company’s Nova-C lunar lander and is scheduled to land on February 22 near the Moon’s South Pole, NASA said. The flight will carry six NASA payloads that will focus on plume-surface interactions, space weather-lunar surface interactions, radio astronomy, precision landing technologies, and a communications and navigation node for future autonomous navigation technologies.