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| Attribute | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Operator | SpaceX | Intuitive Machines | CNSA |
| Prime contractor | SpaceX | Intuitive Machines | China Academy of Space Technology (CAST) |
| Status | In development | Landed | Landed |
| Customer | NASA-HLS | NASA-CLPS | CNSA |
| Launch date | 2027 (NET — Artemis III) | 2025-02-27 | 2024-05-03 |
| Landing date | — | 2025-03-06 | 2024-06-01 |
| Landing site | Lunar south pole (NASA-curated candidate region near 84-90°S) | Mons Mouton plateau, lunar south pole (~400 m off target) | Apollo crater, South Pole-Aitken Basin (lunar far side) |
| Payload | ~100 tonnes to lunar surface (sustained variant target) (2024-04-16) | 10 payloads delivered (2025-03-06) | 1,935.3 g of lunar far-side regolith returned to Earth (2024-06-25) |
| Contract value | $2.89B + $1.15B Option B = $4.04B total (2022-11-15) | $62.5M (2025-02-27) | — |
| Outcome | 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. | Soft-landed but tipped onto its side after altimeter failure caused the lander to strike a plateau and skid into a crater rim. Power depleted within ~24 hours; ~250 MB of data transmitted including TRIDENT drill range-of-motion demonstration. | First-ever sample return from the lunar far side and the South Pole-Aitken Basin. Used the Queqiao-2 relay satellite for far-side comms. Samples revealed unexpectedly cohesive grain behavior and excavated material from the Moon's mantle. |
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Underlying dataset: GET /api/moon/landers. Methodology: /moon/methodology.