Competition for first commercial lunar landing still hot with IM-1 launching in January

Intuitive Machines announced Friday that it has received its launch window for its IM-1 mission to land on the Moon for NASA’s CLPS program. This could quickly become the first CLPS mission if Astrobotic’s Peregrine Mission One delays from its currently launch date of Christmas Eve.

Intuitive Machines receives launch window from SpaceX

IM-1, Intuitive Machines’ first lunar landing mission, is set to launch no earlier than January 12, 2024. This date came from SpaceX, its contracted launcher for this mission. The launch will take place on a Falcon 9 rocket, one of the most reliable rockets on the market.

The mission will carry up to five NASA payloads and payloads from customers that purchased space on the lander. IM-1 is a part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services program that’s goal is to provide a sustainable presence on the lunar surface for scientific research.

If it sounds like you just read about a CLPS mission getting a launch date, that’s because you did. Astrobotic’s Peregrine Mission One received its launch date on ULA’s new Vulcan rocket for Christmas Eve. However, that window is short, lasting only three days.

Both these companies were awarded their respective missions in 2019. While they’ve never said they’re racing, with launch dates so close, I’m sure someone somewhere is taking bet on which mission flies first.

My two cents: There’s a good chance that ULA will run into some sort of problem on Vulcan’s first launch. New rockets always have something that doesn’t go right during first countdowns. With only three days in that window, a delay to late January shouldn’t be unexpected. For IM-1, well I don’t expect anything shocking to come out a Falcon 9 launch except yet-to-be-known weather or range restrictions. So if there was a race, IM-1 has the upper hand.

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History of failed commercial lunar landers

We’ve seen a very large list of privately funded or commercially operated landers attempt to fly and land on the Moon in recent years. Still, a commercial lander has yet to land successfully on the Moon’s surface.

Landing on the Moon is a difficult task. It took India two tries to do it correctly and Russia, a country with huge space experience, failed on its Luna 25 mission this year. The only difference is Intuitive Machines and Astrobotic are backed by NASA, the leader in Moon landing experience. (Insert screaming eagle sound clip)

Does that mean this will be successful? No, anything can still go wrong with a new spacecraft. However, something inside me (maybe my patriotism coming out) is saying that these two companies have what it takes to succeed where others have failed.