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| Attribute | LUPEX (ISRO lander + JAXA rover) Lunar Polar Exploration Mission Trust: Agency-primary Last verified Remove × | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Operator | Intuitive Machines | JAXA + ISRO | SpaceX |
| Prime contractor | Intuitive Machines | JAXA + ISRO | SpaceX |
| Status | Landed | In development | In development |
| Customer | NASA-CLPS | JAXAISRO | NASA-HLS |
| Launch date | 2024-02-15 | 2028 (NET) | 2027 (NET — Artemis III) |
| Landing date | 2024-02-22 | — | — |
| Landing site | Malapert A crater, ~300 km from lunar south pole | Lunar south pole (permanently shadowed crater margin) | Lunar south pole (NASA-curated candidate region near 84-90°S) |
| Payload | ~100 kg payload capacity (1,908 kg launch mass) (2024-02-22) | ~350 kg rover with drilling to 1.5 m + ISRO lander (2026-05-28) | ~100 tonnes to lunar surface (sustained variant target) (2024-04-16) |
| Contract value | $118M (2024-02-15) | — | $2.89B + $1.15B Option B = $4.04B total (2022-11-15) |
| Outcome | First US Moon landing since Apollo 17 and first commercial soft landing in history. Lander tipped to ~30° on touchdown after landing-leg failure but transmitted data for ~7 days before sunset. | Joint ISRO-JAXA water-ice prospecting mission, designated Chandrayaan-5 by India. India's cabinet approved Phase A on 2025-03-10. Launches on JAXA's H3. Carries American and European instruments alongside Indian and Japanese ones. | Selected April 2021 as sole HLS provider for Artemis III. Architecture requires Super Heavy launch + multiple Starship tanker refueling flights in LEO + transit to NRHO + rendezvous with Orion (SLS). NASA OIG IG-26-004 (March 2026) flagged crew-rescue capability as open risk. October 2025: NASA acting administrator Sean Duffy reopened Artemis III lander contract to competition due to Starship development pace. |
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Underlying dataset: GET /api/moon/landers. Methodology: /moon/methodology.