NASA awarded Intuitive Machines a $180.4 million Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) task order on March 24, 2026 for the IM-5 mission — delivering seven NASA science and technology payloads, plus an Australian Space Agency rover and a Honeybee Robotics rover, to Mons Malapert near the lunar South Pole. This is Intuitive Machines' fifth CLPS award and the first to require the larger cargo-class Nova-D lunar lander. Per Intuitive Machines' own press release.
The Mons Malapert site
Mons Malapert is a ridge near the Lunar South Pole offering continuous Earth visibility, stable illumination, and access to permanently shadowed regions. It's on Artemis III's candidate-landing list — IM-5's data feeds program-of-record human-landing planning.
What rides along
- Mass Spectrometer Observing Lunar Operations (MSolo) — characterizes lunar exosphere and monitors volatiles
- Near InfraRed Volatiles Spectrometer System (NIRVSS) — modular instrument suite for volatile/regolith analysis
- Australian Space Agency Roo-ver rover
- Honeybee Robotics next-generation lunar rover (hosting NIRVSS)
- Plus radiation dosimeters, retroreflectors, surface cameras
What to do
- Payload providers: Intuitive Machines' cargo manifest opens slots for ESA / commercial science payloads
- Cislunar comms / data-relay firms: Intuitive Machines' Space Data Network is the on-ramp
