NASA Selects Intuitive Machines to Deliver Lunar Ice Drill in 2022
NASA has selected Intuitive Machines to deliver the Polar Resources Ice Mining
Experiment (PRIME-1) drill, combined with a mass spectrometer, to the Moon by
December 2022. The ice drilling mission is the Houston-based company’s second Moon
contract award under NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative.
“Laying the foundation to return humans to the Moon is an incredible honor and even
greater challenge,” said Steve Altemus, President and CEO of Intuitive Machines. “At
Intuitive Machines, we’re hungry for the pursuit of these audacious missions that will
redefine what a small business is capable of.”
Intuitive Machines, a leading provider and supplier of space
products and services, will deliver the approximately 88-pound
payload to the Moon’s South Pole as a precursor to the TRIDENT
drill and the MSOLO that will fly on VIPER, a mobile robot that will
search for water and ice at the Moon’s South Pole.
PRIME-1 will drill into the lunar surface, harvest and bring ice to the Moon’s surface, and use a mass spectrometer to measure
how much is lost to sublimination as it turns from solid into vapor in a vacuum. The data
from the PRIME-1 mission will help scientists understand how VIPER can search for water
at the Moon’s pole, and how much water may be available to use as NASA plans to
establish a sustainable human presence on the Moon by the end of the decade.
“Establishing a sustainable human presence on the Moon requires the success of the CLPS
initiative,” said Altemus. “We have a tremendous responsibility to NASA and opportunity to
animate humankind’s pursuit of knowledge through exploration.”
About Intuitive Machines
Intuitive Machines is a premier provider and supplier of space products and
services that enable sustained robotic and human exploration to the Moon, Mars
and beyond. We drive markets with competitive world-class offerings synonymous
with innovation, high quality, and precision. Whether leveraging state-of-the-art
engineering tools and practices or integrating research and advanced
technologies, our solutions are insightful and have a positive impact on the world.
