A Jumping Lunar Robot Is About to Explore a Pitch-Black Moon Crater for the First Time
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Summary
The upcoming IM-2 lunar mission from Intuitive Machines is set for launch on February 26.
Carrying a host of rovers and other equipment, the lander is partially funded by NASA as the US agency seeks to build a new lunar economy ahead of plans to return humans to the moon.
It is attempting to land at the moon’s south pole, a region that scientists think might hold water ice in permanently dark craters that never receive sunlight.
Instruments on board include a NASA drill to burrow into the surface and search for ice, a hopper to ‘jump’ into a crater, and a spacecraft to fly past an asteroid and take pictures.
There is also a rover with a Nokia 4G device onboard and another rovers, one the size of a shampoo bottle and the other the size of a suitcase.
The mission is part of a program that has also funded another mission that failed, and another that landed on its side.
IM-2 is set to land in a region 100 miles from the pole either safely or on its side—but potentially within reach of a crater that never sees sunlight.
