Intuit Dome

Intuitive Machines (Nasdaq: LUNR) is a Houston, Texas commercial space company founded in 2013 that achieved a landmark first in February 2024: landing the Nova-C lander Odysseus near the lunar south pole — the first American soft landing on the Moon in over 50 years (since Apollo 17 in 1972) and the first successful commercial Moon landing by any private company. The IM-1 mission delivered six NASA science payloads to Malapert A crater at 80.1°S latitude, validating the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) model NASA pioneered to reduce lunar access costs.

The company's propulsion division engineers the liquid methane/liquid oxygen (LCH4/LOX) rocket engines that power Nova-C: the VR900 delivers 4,900 lbf thrust with a 10:1 throttle range enabling precision terminal descent and landing, while the VR1200 (12,000 lbf) is designed for heavier future landers. The choice of methane propellants aligns with long-term lunar ISRU (in-situ resource utilization) goals — lunar water ice can theoretically be electrolyzed to produce LH2/LOX or reformed to methane, enabling propellant production at the south pole for refueling missions.

The IM-2 mission (2025) carries the PRIME-1 drill (Polar Resources Ice Mining Experiment) and MAPP rover to the lunar south pole, directly supporting NASA's Artemis infrastructure. IM-3 is planned for the Reiner Gamma magnetic anomaly. Intuitive Machines also provides space systems engineering and space domain awareness services as part of its NASA and DoD contract portfolio.

NASA CLPS Task Order 2-19D anchored the company's first two missions. Competitors for CLPS lunar delivery include Astrobotic (Griffin lander), Firefly Aerospace (Blue Ghost — landed January 2025), and Masten Space Systems (bankrupt 2022, assets acquired by Astrobotic).