Commercial Lunar Network Completed by Intuitive Machines
Teams from Intuitive Machines and five space antenna ground stations validated the complete commercial lunar network required for Intuitive Machines’ first mission to the Moon, IM-1.
“Completing these exercises with a spacecraft currently orbiting the Moon proves that our network is prepared for our first mission.”
Brian Mader, Intuitive Machines Mission Operations Engineer.
Under an agreement with NASA and as part of a Live Sky exercise of Intuitive Machines Lunar Telemetry and Tracking Network (LTN), Intuitive Machines personnel utilized each of the IM-1 required deep space antennas to acquire and track NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) from Intuitive Machines’ Nova Control in Houston, Texas.
“Completing these exercises with a spacecraft currently orbiting the Moon proves that our network is prepared for our first mission,” said Brian Mader, Intuitive Machines Mission Operations Engineer. “It’s incredible; the Intuitive Machines and ground station teams are laying the critical infrastructure to support a growing lunar economy.”
NASA granted IM access to LRO in January to conduct a live sky test of IM’s Lunar Telemetry and Tracking Network (LTN). During the successful test, MSU’s 21-meter antenna locked on to NASA’s LRO radio frequency and fed the signal back to IM’s Nova Control in Houston, Texas. The complete test of the commercial lunar network validated the process used to communicate, command, and control IM’s spacecraft during the company’s 2022 lunar mission.
“This was a critical step towards returning the United States to the lunar surface on our IM-1 mission this year,” Peter McGrath, vice president of Business Development at Intuitive Machines said at the time. “It is also key to validating our fully commercial lunar distance communication and data relay network that supports future IM missions as well as other players in the emerging lunar economy.”
A 21-meter dish at Morehead State University provides telemetry, tracking, ranging, and commanding services for low-Earth, medium-Earth, and near-Earth deep space missions. All future IM missions to the Moon will require the technical support and expertise that the team at MSU is ready to provide for mission tracking and data downlink services.
"The importance of these live sky tests utilizing NASA's LRO cannot be overstated,” said Dr. Benjamin Malphrus Ed.D., Executive Director of MSU Space Science Center. “These tests represent complete end-to-end systems tests of our ground station, ground data systems, and interfaces to IM's Nova Control. They also represent valuable training opportunities for our early-career mission operation specialists and engineers in training."
(Image provided with Intuitive Machines news release)