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By NASA
4 Min Read Five Facts About NASA’s Moon Bound Technology
A view of the Moon from Earth, zooming up to IM-2's landing site at Mons Mouton, which is visible in amateur telescopes. Credits: NASA/Scientific Visualization Studio NASA is sending revolutionary technologies to the Moon aboard Intuitive Machines’ second lunar delivery as part of the agency’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative and Artemis campaign to establish a long-term presence on the lunar surface.
As part of this CLPS flight to the Moon, NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate will test novel technologies to learn more about what lies beneath the lunar surface, explore its challenging terrain, and improve in-space communication.
The launch window for Intuitive Machines’ second CLPS delivery, IM-2, opens no earlier than Wednesday, Feb. 26 from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. After the Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C class lunar lander reaches Mons Mouton, a lunar plateau near the Moon’s South Pole region, it will deploy several NASA and commercial technologies including a drill and mass spectrometer, a new cellular communication network, and a small drone that will survey difficult terrain before returning valuable data to Earth.
Caption: The Intuitive Machines lunar lander that will deliver NASA science and technology to the Moon as part of the agency’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative and Artemis campaign is encapsulated in the fairing of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Credit: SpaceX Here are five things to know about this unique mission to the Moon, the technologies we are sending, and the teams making it happen!
1. Lunar South Pole Exploration
IM-2’s landing site is known as one of the flatter regions in the South Pole region, suitable to meet Intuitive Machines’ requirement for a lit landing corridor and acceptable terrain slope. The landing location was selected by Intuitive Machines using data acquired by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.
An illustration of Mons Mouton, a mesa-like lunar mountain that towers above the landscape carved by craters near the Moon’s South Pole.Credit: NASA/Scientific Visualization Studio 2. New Technology Demonstrations
NASA’s Polar Resources Ice Mining Experiment, known as PRIME-1, is a suite of two instruments – a drill and mass spectrometer – designed to demonstrate our capability to look for ice and other resources that could be extracted and used to produce propellant and breathable oxygen for future explorers. The PRIME-1 technology will dig up to about three feet below the surface into the lunar soil where it lands, gaining key insight into the soil’s characteristics and temperature while detecting other resources that may lie beneath the surface.
Data from the PRIME-1 technology demonstration will be made available to the public following the mission, enabling partners to accelerate the development of new missions and innovative technologies.
The Polar Resources Ice Mining Experiment-1 (PRIME-1) will help scientists search for water at the lunar South Pole.Credit: NASA/Advanced Concepts Lab 3. Mobile Robots
Upon landing on the lunar surface, two commercial Tipping Point technology demonstrations will be deployed near Intuitive Machines’ lander, Tipping Points are collaborations between NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate and industry that foster the development of commercial space capabilities and benefit future NASA missions.
The first is a small hopping drone developed by Intuitive Machines. The hopper, named Grace, will deploy as a secondary payload from the lander and enable high-resolution surveying of the lunar surface, including permanently shadowed craters around the landing site. Grace is designed to bypass obstacles such as steep inclines, boulders, and craters to cover a lot of terrain while moving quickly, which is a valuable capability to support future missions on the Moon and other planets, including Mars.
Artist rendering of the Intuitive Machines Micro Nova Hopper.Credit: Intuitive Machines 4. Lunar Surface Communication
The next Tipping Point technology will test a Lunar Surface Communications System developed by Nokia. This system employs the same cellular technology used here on Earth, reconceptualized by Nokia Bell Labs to meet the unique requirements of a lunar mission. The Lunar Surface Communications System will demonstrate proximity communications between the lander, a Lunar Outpost rover, and the hopper.
Artist rendering of Nokia’s Lunar Surface Communication System (LSCS), which aims to demonstrate cellular-based communications on the lunar surface. Credit: Intuitive Machines 5. Working Together
NASA is working with several U.S. companies to deliver technology and science to the lunar surface through the agency’s CLPS initiative.
NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate plays a unique role in the IM-2 mission by strategically combining CLPS with NASA’s Tipping Point mechanism to maximize the potential benefit of this mission to NASA, industry, and the nation.
NASA’s Lunar Surface Innovation Initiative and Game Changing Development program within the agency’s Space Technology Mission Directorate led the maturation, development, and implementation of pivotal in-situ resource utilization, communication, and mobility technologies flying on IM-2.
Join NASA to watch full mission updates, from launch to landing on NASA+, and share your experience on social media. Mission updates will be made available on NASA’s Artemis blog.
A team of engineers from NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston and Honeybee Robotics in Altadena, California inspect TRIDENT – short for The Regolith Ice Drill for Exploring New Terrain – shortly after its arrival at the integration and test facility.Credit: NASA/Robert Markowitz Artist’s rendering of Intuitive Machines’ Athena lunar lander on the Moon. Credit: Intuitive Machines
Artist conception: Earth emerges from behind Mons Mouton on the horizon.Credit: NASA/Scientific Visualization Studio Explore More
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Space Technology Mission Directorate
Polar Resources Ice Mining Experiment 1 (PRIME-1)
Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS)
The goal of the CLPS project is to enable rapid, frequent, and affordable access to the lunar surface by helping…
NASA Partners with American Companies on Key Moon, Exploration Tech
NASA has selected 11 U.S. companies to develop technologies that could support long-term exploration on the Moon and in space…
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Last Updated Feb 24, 2025 EditorStefanie PayneContactAnyah Demblinganyah.dembling@nasa.govLocationNASA Headquarters Related Terms
Space Technology Mission Directorate Artemis Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) Game Changing Development Program Kennedy Space Center Lunar Surface Innovation Initiative Missions NASA Headquarters Research and Technology at Kennedy Space Center Science Mission Directorate
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By NASA
Wayne Johnson, who in 2012 earned the highest rank of Fellow at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California, is known worldwide as an expert in rotary wing technology. He was among those who provided help in testing Ingenuity, NASA’s Mars helicopter.NASA / Eric James NASA Ames’ Wayne Johnson Elected to 2025 Class of New Members of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE)
Dr. Wayne R. Johnson, aerospace engineer at Ames Research Center, will be inducted as a new member of the prestigious National Academy of Engineering (NAE), class of 2025, on October 5, 2025, for his 45+ years of contributions to rotorcraft analysis, tiltrotor aircraft development, emerging electric aircraft, and the Mars Helicopter development. NAE members are among the world’s most accomplished engineers from business, academia, and government and are elected by their peers. The full announcement was released to the press on February 11, 2025 from NAE and is at
https://www.nae.edu/19579/31222/20095/327741/331605/NAENewClass2025
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By NASA
Improving space-based pharmaceutical research
View of the Ice Cubes experiment #6 (Kirara) floating in the Columbus European Laboratory module aboard the International Space Station.UAE (United Arab Emirates)/Sultan Alneyadi Researchers found differences in the stability and degradation of the anti-Covid drug Remdesivir in space and on Earth on its first research flight, but not on a second. This highlights the need for more standardized procedures for pharmaceutical research in space.
Long-term stability of drugs is critical for future space missions. Because multiple characteristics of spaceflight could influence chemical stability, the scientists repeated their experiment under circumstances as nearly identical as possible. This research used Kirara, a temperature-controlled incubator developed by JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) for crystallizing proteins in microgravity. Results also confirmed that a solubility enhancer used in the drug is radiation resistant and its quality was not affected by microgravity and launch conditions.
Evaluating postflight task performance
A test subject performing a sensorimotor field test on the ground.NASA/Lauren Harnett Immediately after returning from the International Space Station and for up to one week, astronauts perform functional tasks in ways similar to patients on Earth who have a loss of inner ear function. This finding suggests that comparing data from these patients and astronauts could provide insight into the role of the balance and sensory systems in task performance during critical parts of a mission such as landing on the Moon or Mars.
Spaceflight causes changes to the balance (vestibular) and sensory systems that can lead to symptoms such as disorientation and impaired locomotion. Standard Measures collects a set of data, including tests of sensorimotor function, related to human spaceflight risks from astronauts before, during, and after missions to help characterize how people adapt to living and working in space.
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By NASA
Credit: NASA NASA, on behalf of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), has awarded a delivery order to BAE Systems Space & Mission Systems Inc. of Boulder, Colorado, to build spacecraft for the Lagrange 1 Series project as a part of NOAA’s Space Weather Next program.
The award made under the Rapid Spacecraft Acquisition IV contract, has a total value of approximately $230.6 million with the period of performance running from February 2025 to February 2035. The work will take place at the awardee’s facility in Boulder.
The firm-fixed-price delivery order covers all phases of the Lagrange 1 Series project operations including developing up to two spacecraft, instrument integration, satellite-level testing, training and support for the spacecraft flight operations team, and mission operations support. Rapid IV contracts serve as a fast and flexible means for the government to acquire spacecraft and related components, equipment, and services in support of NASA missions and other federal government agencies.
The Space Weather Next program will maintain and extend space weather observations from various orbitally stable points such as Lagrange 1, which is about a million miles from Earth. The first Space Weather Next Lagrange 1 Series launch, planned in 2029, will be the first observatory under the program and will provide continuity of real-time coronal imagery and upstream solar wind measurements. Space Weather Next will provide uninterrupted data continuity when NOAA’s Space Weather Follow On Lagrange 1 mission comes to its end of operations.
Observations of the Sun and the near-Earth space environment are important to protecting our technological infrastructure both on the ground and in space. The spacecraft will provide critical data to NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center which issues forecasts, warnings and alerts that help mitigate space weather impacts, including electric power outages and interruption to communications and navigation systems.
NASA and NOAA oversee the development, launch, testing, and operation of all the satellites in the Lagrange 1 Series project. NOAA is the program owner providing the requirements and funding along with managing the program, operations, data products, and dissemination to users. NASA and its commercial partners develop and build the instruments, spacecraft, and provide launch services on behalf of NOAA.
For information about NASA and agency programs, visit:
https://www.nasa.gov
-end-
Karen Fox/Liz Vlock
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
karen.c.fox@nasa.gov / elizabeth.a.vlock@nasa.gov
Jeremy Eggers
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
757-824-2958
jeremy.l.eggers@nasa.gov
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Last Updated Feb 21, 2025 LocationNASA Headquarters Related Terms
Space Weather Heliophysics Joint Agency Satellite Division NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) Science & Research Science Mission Directorate View the full article
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By European Space Agency
The European Space Agency (ESA) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) have signed a Memorandum of Intent (MoI) to harness space technology for humanitarian assistance worldwide. The partnership will combine ESA's space expertise with ICRC's humanitarian reach to develop space-enabled solutions that can help protect and assist communities affected by disasters and conflicts across Europe and beyond.
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