U.S. company to deliver NASA science to lunar surface

U.S. company Intuitive Machines will deliver NASA science and technology demonstrations to the moon in its first robotic flight to the lunar surface, reported Xinhua, quoting NASA.

The Intuitive Machines Nova-C lander carrying NASA science and commercial payloads will launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida no earlier than mid-February.

Among the NASA items on its lander, the Intuitive Machines mission will carry instruments focusing on plume-surface interactions, space weather/lunar surface interactions, radio astronomy, precision landing technologies, and a communication and navigation node for future autonomous navigation technologies, according to NASA.

In May 2019, NASA awarded a task order for the delivery to Intuitive Machines.

NASA is working with several U.S. companies to deliver science and technology to the lunar surface through the agency's Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative.