CSIRO
CSIRO is supporting Intuitive Machines’ first lunar mission, IM-1, which successfully landed and sent a confirmed signal from the surface of the Moon on Friday 23 February.
- IM-1 launched on Thursday 15 February on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Kennedy Space Centre in Florida.
- Murriyang, CSIRO’s Parkes radio telescope, is one of the ground stations tracking and receiving data from IM-1. This uncrewed mission is delivering NASA experiments and commercial payloads to the lunar south polar region.
- The data collected from the experiments and technology demonstrations onboard IM-1 will help inform future uncrewed and crewed missions to the Moon.
- CSIRO’s team operating Canberra’s Deep Space Communication Complex and their sister stations in Madrid and Goldstone are also providing communication support for the mission including one of the NASA payloads – NASA’s Lunar Node 1 which is demonstrating a navigation and positioning system for future Moon and Mars missions.
- Intuitive Machines is one of several commercial companies contracted by NASA to lead uncrewed lunar missions under the agency’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative in support of their Artemis program.
/Public Release. View in full here.
