Intuitive Machines CLPS south-pole delivery (2026 award, 2030 target)
NASA awarded Intuitive Machines $180.4 million on 2026-03-27 to deliver seven payloads, five of them NASA's, to the south polar region, targeted to land in 2030; they include the MSolo mass spectrometer, which NASA says measures volatiles that can be used as resources, and NIRVSS, designed to detect ices. NASA also plans to integrate its Multifunctional Nanosensor Platform (MNP) into the Australian Space Agency's Roo-ver. MNP is intended to measure volatile compounds while studying how lander exhaust interacts with regolith. NASA describes Roo-ver as a mobility and autonomy demonstration; this announcement does not establish an oxygen-extraction objective for the rover.
Objective. Deliver NASA instruments including MSolo and NIRVSS to characterize volatiles and possible ices in south-polar regolith.
Facts
- Kind
- Spacecraft
- Mission type
- Prospecting
- Target
- MoonLunar south pole regionSouth polar region, no point: Lunar south pole missions
- Launch
- Not recorded
- Landing
- Planned 2030 (target)Announcement date not recorded. Record checked 2026-10-28.
- Phase
- AnnouncedNASA award announcement of 2026-03-27, re-read 2026-10-17 and 2026-10-28; the stated 2030 date is a landing target, not a launch date. No mission name or lander build status is in the source reviewed.
- Outcome
- Not applicable
- Why it is included
- Stated resource objective
What comes next
Next recorded dates are plans, not results.
Landing: Planned 2030 (target)Announcement date not recorded. Record checked 2026-10-28.
Participants
Operators, payload owners, carriers and customers are recorded separately.
| Organization | Role |
|---|---|
| Intuitive Machines | Operator |
| National Aeronautics and Space Administration | Customer |
Resources and evidence
| Resource | Evidence |
|---|---|
| Volatiles | Targeted |
| Water ice | Targeted |
Dated events
- 2026-03-27
NASA CLPS award to Intuitive Machines for a 2030 south-pole delivery ($180.4 million)
NASA awarded Intuitive Machines $180.4 million to deliver seven payloads to the south polar region, targeted for 2030, including volatile- and ice-measuring instruments.
Sources (2)
NASA has awarded Intuitive Machines of Houston, $180.4 million to deliver NASA-funded science and technology to the lunar surface
MSolo measures low molecular weight volatiles, which can be used as resources on the lunar surface.
Open evidence gaps
- Mission name/number (e.g. IM-5) and CLPS task-order designation not given in the NASA article reviewed.
Sources
5 excerpts from 1 publicationOne web address counts as one publication.
NASA has awarded Intuitive Machines of Houston, $180.4 million to deliver NASA-funded science and technology to the lunar surface
Intuitive Machines is responsible for delivering end-to-end payload services to the lunar surface, targeted to land at the Moon's South Pole region in 2030.
MSolo measures low molecular weight volatiles, which can be used as resources on the lunar surface.
It will investigate how exhaust plumes from a lander’s engines interact with the lunar regolith by measuring volatile compounds over time and at varying distances from the landing site.
To enable these measurements, the MNP instrument will be integrated into the Australian Space Agency’s rover (“Roo-ver”), a foundation services technology demonstration. The rover will showcase Australia’s robotics capabilities, with the ability to traverse complex terrain and operate with limited human intervention. In doing so, Roo-ver will validate key mobility and autonomy technologies in the lunar environment while serving as the enabling platform for MNP’s scientific objectives.
Cite this record
SpaceMiningData, “Intuitive Machines CLPS south-pole delivery (2026 award, 2030 target)”, dataset version a00fa2c68a45, built 2026-11-11, https://spaceminingdata.com/missions/intuitive-machines-clps-south-pole-2030.html. Record checked 2026-10-28.