NASA awarded Intuitive Machines a $180.4 million Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) task order on March 25, 2026 for the IM-5 mission — delivering science and technology payloads 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 lander. Coverage from GovCon Wire.
What rides along
- Seven NASA-funded payloads (radiation dosimeters, spectrometers, retroreflectors, surface cameras)
- Australian Space Agency Roo-ver rover
- Honeybee Robotics lunar rover
Cislunar context
IM-5 follows IM-4's $116.9M CLPS task order from August 2024. CEO Steve Altemus framed the new award as accelerating "expansion efforts" in cislunar infrastructure. The Mons Malapert site is on Artemis III's candidate-landing list — IM-5's data feeds program-of-record human-landing planning.
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