Nova-C IM-1

Mission specifications

Operator

Intuitive Machines

Prime contractor

Intuitive Machines

Launch

2024-02-15

Landing

2024-02-22

Landing site

Malapert A crater, ~300 km from lunar south pole

Customer

NASA-CLPS

Payload

~100 kg payload capacity (1,908 kg launch mass)as of 2024-02-22^[1]Mission carried 12 payloads — 6 NASA CLPS + 6 commercial

Contract value

$118Mas of 2024-02-15^[2]CLPS Task Order 2-IM; initial 2021 award $77M grew via modifications

Key findings

• 1.Became the first commercial spacecraft ever to soft-land on the Moon, and the first US vehicle to touch the surface since Apollo 17 in 1972, reaching Malapert A crater ~300 km from the south pole on Feb 22, 2024 at 23:23:53 UT.
• 2.A safety switch on the primary landing laser rangefinder had not been armed before launch, leaving it disabled; engineers uplinked a real-time patch to route navigation through NASA's Navigation Doppler Lidar (NDL) tech-demo payload, which became the operational altimeter that made the landing possible.
• 3.Odysseus came down faster than planned on a ~12-degree slope, snapped one of its six legs and tipped to roughly a 30-degree angle, coming to rest against an external helium tank — yet every instrument payload stayed functional.
• 4.Carried 12 payloads — 6 NASA CLPS instruments (NDL, LN-1, ROLSES, SCALPSS, LRA, RFMG) plus 6 commercial payloads — and returned data on all of them, including a standalone test of NASA's Radio Frequency Mass Gauge and SCALPSS imagery of engine-plume surface interaction.
• 5.Operated roughly one week on the surface before lunar sunset ended the mission around Feb 29, 2024, though the tipped attitude cut the data-downlink rate well below plan.

Mission outcome

IM-1 Odysseus made history on February 22, 2024 as the first commercial soft landing on the Moon and the first American vehicle on the lunar surface since 1972. After its primary landing laser rangefinder was found disabled (a safety switch had not been armed before launch), controllers improvised by commanding the ship to navigate on NASA's onboard NDL demonstrator, and Odysseus touched down and tipped to about 30 degrees but kept all payloads alive. It returned science and engineering data from every instrument for roughly a week before sunset, and NASA and Intuitive Machines declared the mission a success — a bumpy but pivotal proof that a private lander could reach the Moon under the CLPS model.