Nova-C Lunar Lander
Intuitive Machines
Commercial lunar lander under NASA CLPS — 1,900 kg wet mass, 130 kg payload capacity, methalox VES-10 engine (28.7 kN), first American commercial soft lunar landing February 2024, TRL-9.
Technical specifications
- Height
- 4 m
- Structure
- 1.57 m hexagonal carbon fibre
- Wet mass
- 1,900 kg
- Payload capacity
- 130 kg
- Engine
- VES-10 (CH4/LOX), 28.7 kN
- Propellant
- Liquid methane / Liquid oxygen
- Solar panels
- 4 panels, 200 W BOL
- Battery
- Li-ion, 84.5 Wh
- Launch vehicle
- SpaceX Falcon 9
- Flight heritage
- IM-1 Odysseus, soft-landed 2024-02-22
- TRL
- 9 (flight proven)
About
Nova-C is Intuitive Machines’ commercial lunar lander designed to deliver scientific instruments and technology demonstrations to the lunar surface under NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program. Standing 4 m tall with a 1.57 m hexagonal carbon fibre structure, Nova-C is propelled by a 28.7 kN regeneratively-cooled methane/liquid oxygen VES-10 engine. The IM-1 mission (Odysseus) launched February 15, 2024 on SpaceX Falcon 9 and successfully soft-landed near the lunar south pole on February 22, 2024, making it the first American commercial soft landing on the Moon since Apollo 17 in 1972 and the first craft to land near the south pole. The lander carries up to 130 kg of science payloads and has 92 kg/m² landing leg load capacity.
Documentation
No public datasheet yet — request the datasheet / ICD from the supplier.