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Space Robotics

Micro-Nova

Program pages Intuitive Machines: IM-2

Overview

Section titled “Overview”

The lunar poles hold water ice inside permanently shadowed regions and on slopes and blocky ground that a wheeled rover cannot enter, so reaching that terrain calls for a vehicle that does not depend on wheels at all. Micro-Nova, also called uNova and flown as S. P. Hopper, is Intuitive Machines’ answer: a rocket-propelled hopper with its own propulsion, avionics, power, flight control and communications, deployed from a lander rather than driven from one, that flies from point to point and lands under a precision landing and hazard avoidance system that images the surface and guides the vehicle itself [5]. The same design converges on ballistic flight for the same reason every other polar access concept has to reckon with a shadowed crater floor: nothing that rolls can descend and climb back out of one, and nothing that flies blind can land in one either.

The design is offered commercially rather than as a one-off technology payload. Intuitive Machines lists lunar hopper services alongside fixed surface delivery, rover delivery and satellite delivery as one of four standing service lines built on its Nova-C lander family [2], and the vehicle itself is a single structure sized between 30 and 60 kg by the size of its propellant tank, trading one-way range against payload mass [1].

The first unit flew as a secondary payload on IM-2, alongside NASA’s PRIME-1 ice-prospecting suite, a Nokia 4G/LTE surface communications demonstration and the Lunar Outpost MAPP rover on the same Nova-C lander, Athena [2]. Its three technology objectives, in order, were deployment from the host lander, independent power generation and management on the lunar surface, and end-to-end communication between hopper and lander; the plan called for it to descend into a permanently shadowed region under 200 m across near the south pole and return color imagery and temperature data from its interior [1]. Athena landed on its side at Mons Mouton on 6 March 2025, and the mission ended the following day with the hopper never released [8].

Specifications

Section titled “Specifications”
ParameterValueSource
Height70 cm[1]
System mass30 kg, demonstration configuration[1]
System mass, extended60 kg, same structure with a larger propellant tank[1]
Payload capacity, extended5 kg[1]
Maximum one-way range, extendedover 30 km[1]
Crater descent and return, extended4 km deep[1]
Guidanceprecision landing and hazard avoidance from surface imaging[5]
Instrumentsmedium angle camera, horizon camera, navigation camera, lunar radiometer[5]

The range and crater figures are trajectory calculations for the larger configuration, not flown results. Propellant mass, specific impulse, hop accuracy, landing dispersion, power budget and thermal limits are not published for either configuration.

Mission profile

Section titled “Mission profile”
ParameterValueSource
LanderIntuitive Machines Nova-C, Athena[2]
Launch27 February 2025[8]
Landing6 March 2025, Mons Mouton[8]
Lander attitudeon its side, inside a crater[8]
Landing offset from targetabout 250 m[8]
Mission end7 March 2025[8]
Hops performednone[8]

The abstracts written before flight describe a different mission from the one that flew: a landing on the Spudis crater side of the Shackleton to de Gerlache connecting ridge in late 2022 or early 2023 [5], [1]. IM-2 flew in 2025 to Mons Mouton instead. Athena’s own inertial measurement unit indicated the lander was on its side, but Intuitive Machines’ chief executive declined to accept that attitude determination without an image, which the company then released; with the solar panels misoriented and the crater floor extremely cold, the company did not expect the lander to recharge and declared the mission over the next day [8]. Controllers accelerated several payload milestones, including PRIME-1, before the batteries depleted, but the hopper’s own deployment sequence was never reached [8].

Mobility

Section titled “Mobility”

Ballistic. The vehicle takes off, flies and lands under its own propulsion, which is what lets it enter a crater whose walls no wheeled vehicle could descend and leave again [1]. The published concept of operations for the IM-2 demonstration was a sequence of five hops, none of which was performed [5]. No hop height, flight time, landing accuracy or slope capability was published as a design figure beyond the trajectory calculations for the extended configuration, and none was demonstrated in flight.

A separate lunar polar access concept, a reconnaissance drone with a towed service station sized for roughly 9 km of range over eleven flights, was proposed on the same premise that a permanently shadowed region needs a flying vehicle rather than a wheeled one; that design remained a pre-hardware study, with no prototype built or flown [9]. Micro-Nova is the only vehicle in this design space to have reached a launch pad.

Power and energy

Section titled “Power and energy”

Independent power generation and management on the lunar surface was one of the three technology objectives, meaning the vehicle is meant to operate without drawing power from the lander once released [5]. No generation figure, battery capacity or duty cycle is published.

Thermal

Section titled “Thermal”

Thermal stability is listed among the technologies the flight was to demonstrate [5]. No operating or survival temperature range, heater strategy or radiator approach is published, which matters more for this vehicle than for most: its intended target was the interior of a permanently shadowed region, among the coldest environments in the solar system.

Compute and avionics

Section titled “Compute and avionics”

The hopper carries its own avionics and flight control [1]. No processor, memory or radiation tolerance approach is published.

Autonomy

Section titled “Autonomy”

The precision landing and hazard avoidance system images the surface and autonomously guides the vehicle to a landing site [1]. Terrain relative navigation and hazard avoidance were both named among the technologies the demonstration existed to prove, so neither was flight proven on this vehicle before IM-2 [5].

Communications

Section titled “Communications”

End-to-end communication between hopper and lander was the third technology objective [5]. Band, data rate and range for that link are not published. Athena separately carried a Nokia Bell Labs 4G/LTE Lunar Surface Communications System, intended to demonstrate lander-to-rover links at 200 to 300 m and up to 2 km as part of a NASA plan to base lunar surface communications on 3GPP cellular and Wi-Fi standards rather than bespoke systems [4]; that paper was written before IM-2 flew and records the network as a mission objective, not a result, and it does not describe the LTE system’s relationship to the hopper’s own link.

Payload and instruments

Section titled “Payload and instruments”

Four instruments were carried for the demonstration: a medium angle camera, a horizon camera, a navigation camera and a lunar radiometer [1]. The camera set is what was to return centimeter-scale color imagery of a permanently shadowed region’s interior, and the radiometer was to measure its temperature [1].

PRIME-1, the NASA payload riding the same lander, paired the Honeybee Robotics TRIDENT rotary-percussive drill with the MSolo mass spectrometer to expose subsurface regolith to about 1 m depth and analyze it for water and other volatiles [7], [6]. TRIDENT is a 22 kg drill built in two identical flight units, one for PRIME-1 and one for VIPER, with a twenty-year development lineage running through CRUX, Icebreaker, LITA and Resource Prospector [12]. With Athena on its side, TRIDENT could not penetrate the surface in that orientation and MSolo received no sample; only mechanism checkouts inside regolith thrown up at landing were exercised [6], [12].

Modes of operation

Section titled “Modes of operation”

Stowed on the lander deck, deployed, and flying. The published concept of operations for the IM-2 demonstration is a sequence of five hops [5]. None was performed.

Ground operations

Section titled “Ground operations”

Not published beyond the statement that the hopper deploys from and communicates through the host lander [5], [1].

Technologies developed

Section titled “Technologies developed”

Nothing was demonstrated in flight. What the program established before it flew is a product definition: a hopper offered as a commercial delivery service alongside fixed surface services, rover services and satellite delivery, rather than as a one-off payload [2]. That framing is what put a hopper on a commercial lunar delivery at all, and the specification that follows from it is a single structure sized between 30 and 60 kg by its propellant tank, trading one-way range against payload mass [1]. IM-2 flew during a period in which nine lunar landers launched in five years, four of them failing outright, a rate that sets the odds any single lander-hosted payload like Micro-Nova was working against before its own hopper-specific risks are counted [3].

What is not established

Section titled “What is not established”

No hop, of any length or duration, has been performed by this vehicle. Every propulsion, guidance, power, thermal and communications figure published for it is a pre-flight design value or a trajectory calculation for the 60 kg extended configuration, not a measured or flown result [5], [1]. The demonstration’s own purpose was to prove deployment, independent power management and hopper-to-lander communication for the first time; none of the three was reached because the hopper was never released from a lander resting on its side [5], [8]. No public account gives a cause for the landing attitude, no descent telemetry, touchdown velocity or slope, and no independent post-landing geodetic reconstruction of the Athena site comparable to the sub-meter digital elevation models produced for other recent lunar landers has been published for Mons Mouton [8], [11], [10]. Whether a second Micro-Nova unit will fly on a future Intuitive Machines mission, and whether it will fly the 30 kg or 60 kg configuration, is not stated in any source held here.

References

  1. Atwell, M., Martin, T. and Robinson, M. S. (2022). Deployable Robotic Hopper for Exploring Challenging Terrains . Annual Meeting of the Lunar Exploration Analysis Group, 5037. Source
    BibTeX
    @inproceedings{atwell2022deployable,
  title = {Deployable Robotic Hopper for Exploring Challenging Terrains},
  author = {Atwell, M. and Martin, Thierry and Robinson, Mark S.},
  booktitle = {Annual Meeting of the Lunar Exploration Analysis Group},
  number = {5037},
  year = {2022},
  url = {https://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/leag2022/pdf/5037.pdf}
}
  2. Bussey, D. B. J. and Martin, T. (2024). Intuitive Machines: Commercially Enabling International Lunar Scientific Exploration . Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, 1931. Source
    BibTeX
    @inproceedings{bussey2024intuitive,
  title = {Intuitive Machines: Commercially Enabling International Lunar Scientific Exploration},
  author = {Bussey, D. B. J. and Martin, Thierry},
  booktitle = {Lunar and Planetary Science Conference},
  number = {1931},
  year = {2024},
  url = {https://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2024/pdf/1931.pdf}
}
  3. Chien, S. A., Visentin, G. and Basich, C. (2024). Exploring Beyond Earth using Space Robotics: Update . Science Robotics. Source
    BibTeX
    @article{chien2024exploring,
  title = {Exploring Beyond Earth using Space Robotics: Update},
  author = {Chien, Steve A. and Visentin, Gianfranco and Basich, Connor},
  journal = {Science Robotics},
  publisher = {JPL Open Repository},
  year = {2024},
  doi = {10.48577/jpl.2ezlhn},
  abstract = {Robotic spacecraft enable exploration of our solar system, beyond our human presence. While spacecraft have explored every planet in the solar system, the frontiers of space robotics are at the cutting edge of landers, rovers, and now atmospheric explorers where robotic spacecraft must interact intimately with their environment to explore beyond the reach of flyby and orbital remote sensing.In 2017, we surveyed space robotics - telling the rich history of robotic explorers to the Moon, Mars, and beyond. In this article, we describe the tremendous growth in space robotics missions in the period 2017-2024 with many new entities participating in missions to the surface of the Moon, Mars, and beyond. We also describe the recent development of aerial missions to planets and moons as exemplified by the Ingenuity helicopter on Mars, the Dragonfly mission to Titan, and the planned Sample Recovery Helicopter to Mars. As with the 2017 survey, we seek to provide a big picture of developments and directions in space robotics. Additionally, we focus on sub orbital robotics - landers, rovers, and aerial vehicles, with associated challenges in sensing, manipulation, and mobility.}
}
  4. Edwards, B., Wagner, R. S., Zemba, M., Klein, T. E., Maestro, L. and Dow, J. (2025). Envisioned Lunar Surface Communications Using 3GPP Cellular and Wi-Fi Technologies . International Conference on Space Operations. Source
    BibTeX
    @inproceedings{edwards2025envisioned,
  title = {Envisioned Lunar Surface Communications Using 3GPP Cellular and Wi-Fi Technologies},
  author = {Edwards, Bernard and Wagner, Raymond S. and Zemba, Michael and Klein, Thierry E. and Maestro, Luis and Dow, John},
  booktitle = {International Conference on Space Operations},
  year = {2025},
  url = {https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/20250001947},
  abstract = {Under NASA’s Artemis Program, NASA plans to collaborate with commercial and international partners to establish a long-term human and robotic presence on the Moon. Critical lunar infrastructure includes having a robust surface wireless communications and navigation network to be developed over time by many organizations, public and private. NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) has envisioned a lunar surface future that includes the use of 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) cellular and 802.11 Wi-Fi technologies. NASA and Nokia Bell Labs are studying and validating the benefits and trade-offs of using 3GPP 4G and 5G technologies originally developed for use here on Earth, and how 3GPP technologies and 802.11 Wi-Fi technologies can be integrated to provide a robust and resilient end-to-end network architecture and solution design. Furthermore, as the 3GPP organization defines future 6G capabilities, NASA wants to understand how that could enhance lunar science and exploration missions and commercial endeavours to provide even more advanced, scalable and high-performance connectivity solutions. The vision is to provide human and robotic missions on the Moon with similar communications and navigation capabilities to what mobile users have on Earth, while adapting these technologies into space-hardened solutions that withstand the environmental and operational challenges of the lunar surface. STMD’s Tipping Point program seeks industry-developed space technologies that can both foster commercial space capabilities and benefit future NASA missions. Via Tipping Point, Nokia Bell Labs will demonstrate the use of 4G / LTE on the lunar surface on the Intuitive Machines IM-2 mission. This will be followed with a technology demonstration with astronauts on the Artemis III lunar landing. This paper provides an overview of NASA’s current and planned future work on using 3GPP and 802.11 Wi-Fi on the Moon.}
}
  5. Martin, T. D., Atwell, M. J., Oelke, M. L., Crain, T. P., Robinson, M. S., Wagner, R. V., Speyerer, E. J., Estes, N. M., Grott, M., Hamm, M. and Knollenberg, J. (2022). S. P. Hopper: First In-Situ Exploration of Lunar Polar Terrain . Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, 2007. Source
    BibTeX
    @inproceedings{martin2022hopper,
  title = {S. P. Hopper: First In-Situ Exploration of Lunar Polar Terrain},
  author = {Martin, T. D. and Atwell, M. J. and Oelke, M. L. and Crain, T. P. and Robinson, Mark S. and Wagner, R. V. and Speyerer, E. J. and Estes, N. M. and Grott, Matthias and Hamm, Maximilian and Knollenberg, J.},
  booktitle = {Lunar and Planetary Science Conference},
  number = {2007},
  year = {2022},
  url = {https://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2022/pdf/2007.pdf}
}
  6. (2022). NASA: Polar Resources Ice Mining Experiment-1 (PRIME-1). nasa.gov/mission/polar-resources-ice-mining-experiment-1-prime-1
    BibTeX
    @misc{nasapolar,
  title = {NASA: Polar Resources Ice Mining Experiment-1 (PRIME-1)},
  organization = {nasa.gov},
  year = {2022},
  url = {https://www.nasa.gov/mission/polar-resources-ice-mining-experiment-1-prime-1/}
}
  7. Quinn, J., Captain, J., Eichenbaum, A., Aguilar-Ayala, R., Kleinhenz, J. E., Zacny, K. A., Chu, P. and Vendiola, V. (2023). Polar Resources Ice Mining Experiment-1 (PRIME-1) NASA’s First Polar Drilling and Volatiles Detection Mission . Kennedy Space Center, 20230007582. Source
    BibTeX
    @techreport{quinn2023polar,
  title = {Polar Resources Ice Mining Experiment-1 (PRIME-1) NASA’s First Polar Drilling and Volatiles Detection Mission},
  author = {Quinn, J.W. and Captain, J.E. and Eichenbaum, A.S. and Aguilar-Ayala, R. and Kleinhenz, Julie E. and Zacny, Kris A. and Chu, P.C. and Vendiola, V.R.},
  number = {20230007582},
  institution = {Kennedy Space Center},
  year = {2023},
  url = {https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/20230007582},
  abstract = {The US Administration announced in 2019 that NASA would return to the Moon where it would seek to establish a sustainable lunar presence. In Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) is needed to sustain and grow hu-man surface exploration and it is therefore a vital part of ensuring this bold endeavor. ISRU requires ground-truth on physical, mineral, and volatile characteristics of the resources. Water, a key and game-changing resource, exists in the polar regions of the Moon. Learning to harvest and use this resource first requires understanding where the resource is abundantly located and on what scales. Harvested water, which is usable for life support and fuel, must be identified, quantified, and assessed for its mining feasibility. 

The project goal for PRIME-1 is to develop a flight-ready instrumentation package that can assess the volatiles at a polar lunar landing location. PRIME-1 is the combination of two instruments; Mass Spectrometer observing lunar operations (MSolo) and The Regolith and Ice Drill for Exploring New Terrain (TRIDENT). TRIDENT is an 1-meter augering drill capable of bringing incremental lunar regolith samples to the surface for volatile analysis. MSolo is a modified, commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) mass spectrometer capable of qualifying and quantifying atomic species in the 1-100 amu range, including isotopic differentiation. These two lunar flight instruments operating together make up the PRIME-1 instrument suite.

PRIME-1 intends to fly on and operate from a static lunar lander acquired by the NASA Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) acquisition process. The PRIME-1 payload suite was selected to fly on Intuitive Machines Nova-C lander, and is currently targeting a late Fall 2023 landing attempt.  }
}
  8. (2026). Spaceflight Now: Intuitive Machines' IM-2 Moon mission ends with lander on its side. spaceflightnow.com/2025/03/07/intuitive-machines-im-2-mission-ends-wi...
    BibTeX
    @misc{spaceflightnowintuitive,
  title = {Spaceflight Now: Intuitive Machines' IM-2 Moon mission ends with lander on its side},
  organization = {spaceflightnow.com},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://spaceflightnow.com/2025/03/07/intuitive-machines-im-2-mission-ends-with-lander-on-its-side-on-the-moon/}
}
  9. Tonasso, R., Tataru, D., Rauch, H., Pozsgay, V., Pfeiffer, T., Uythoven, E. and Rodríguez‐Martínez, D. (2023). A lunar reconnaissance drone for cooperative exploration and high-resolution mapping of extreme locations . arXiv. Source
    BibTeX
    @article{tonasso2023lunar,
  title = {A lunar reconnaissance drone for cooperative exploration and high-resolution mapping of extreme locations},
  author = {Tonasso, Roméo and Tataru, Daniel and Rauch, Hippolyte and Pozsgay, Vincent and Pfeiffer, Thomas and Uythoven, Erik and Rodríguez‐Martínez, David},
  journal = {arXiv},
  year = {2023},
  doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2306.11013},
  abstract = {An efficient characterization of scientifically significant locations is essential prior to the return of humans to the Moon. The highest resolution imagery acquired from orbit of south-polar shadowed regions and other relevant locations remains, at best, an order of magnitude larger than the characteristic length of most of the robotic systems to be deployed. This hinders the planning and successful implementation of prospecting missions and poses a high risk for the traverse of robots and humans, diminishing the potential overall scientific and commercial return of any mission. We herein present the design of a lightweight, compact, autonomous, and reusable lunar reconnaissance drone capable of assisting other ground-based robotic assets, and eventually humans, in the characterization and high-resolution mapping (~0.1 m/px) of particularly challenging and hard-to-access locations on the lunar surface. The proposed concept consists of two main subsystems: the drone and its service station. With a total combined wet mass of 100 kg, the system is capable of 11 flights without refueling the service station, enabling almost 9 km of accumulated flight distance. The deployment of such a system could significantly impact the efficiency of upcoming exploration missions, increasing the distance covered per day of exploration and significantly reducing the need for recurrent contacts with ground stations on Earth.}
}
  10. Tungathurthi, C. (2026). 30 cm per Pixel: How I Built the Highest Resolution Lunar Terrain Map that ISRO Never Released . Zenodo. doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18634148
    BibTeX
    @misc{tungathurthi2026companion,
  title = {30 cm per Pixel: How I Built the Highest Resolution Lunar Terrain Map that ISRO Never Released},
  author = {Tungathurthi, Chandra},
  journal = {Zenodo},
  publisher = {Zenodo},
  year = {2026},
  doi = {10.5281/zenodo.18634148},
  abstract = {This document provides technical workflow documentation for generating a 0.30 m pixel⁻¹ digital elevation model (DEM) from Chandrayaan-2 Orbiter High Resolution Camera (OHRC) stereo imagery at the Chandrayaan-3 Vikram landing site. It details stereo preprocessing, camera model configuration, feature matching, bundle adjustment, and DEM reconstruction steps implemented using publicly available tools (ISIS, the Ames Stereo Pipeline, and ALE). This archive documents generation of the 0.30 m grid DEM prior to geodetic alignment and external validation. Quantitative geodetic correction, alignment to LOLA measurements, and vertical validation statistics are presented separately in the associated peer-reviewed manuscript. The purpose of this companion document is to support reproducibility and provide detailed configuration references for independent OHRC stereo processing using publicly archived data.}
}
  11. Tungathurthi, C. (2026). Geodetically Anchored 0.30 m Digital Elevation Model of the Chandrayaan-3 Vikram Landing Site from Chandrayaan-2 Orbital High Resolution Camera (OHRC) Stereo Imagery . arXiv preprint arXiv:2602.14993. Source
    BibTeX
    @article{tungathurthi2026geodetically,
  title = {Geodetically Anchored 0.30 m Digital Elevation Model of the Chandrayaan-3 Vikram Landing Site from Chandrayaan-2 Orbital High Resolution Camera (OHRC) Stereo Imagery},
  author = {Tungathurthi, Chandra},
  journal = {arXiv preprint arXiv:2602.14993},
  year = {2026},
  doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2602.14993},
  abstract = {ISRO's terrain characterization and hazard mapping from Chandrayaan-2 Orbiter High Resolution Camera (OHRC) stereo imagery were central to the safe landing of Chandrayaan-3 - the first successful landing in the lunar south polar region. However, these elevation products were generated with a proprietary pipeline and have not been publicly released. We present a 0.30 m/pixel digital elevation model (DEM) of the Chandrayaan-3 Vikram landing site using a fully open workflow based on ISIS, the Ames Stereo Pipeline, and ALE, achieving sub-meter resolution comparable to mission-reported products. The reconstruction covers 2.18 x 2.24 km with 91.2% valid pixel coverage, 8.1 cm median triangulation error, and 40-50 cm relative vertical precision. The Vikram lander and Pragyan rover are individually resolved. Geodetic alignment to an LROC NAC stereo DEM achieves approximately 30 m horizontal accuracy; pixel-wise validation at 3 m resolution confirms negligible vertical bias (median dz = +0.28 m) and robust dispersion (NMAD = 2.88 m). Stable OHRC stereo convergence requires Community Sensor Model (CSM) camera models; the legacy ISIS camera model failed across two independent sites. At 0.30 m, these DEMs complement LROC NAC DTMs (approximately 1 m), resolving sub-meter hazards below the NAC detection threshold. Applied to the extensive OHRC south polar archive, this methodology provides independent capability for hazard mapping and landing site analysis for upcoming missions including Chandrayaan-4, LUPEX, and Artemis.}
}
  12. Zacny, K., Chu, P., Vendiola, V., Paulsen, G., Creekmore, J., Goldman, J., Kleinhenz, J., Smith, J. and Colaprete, A. (2025). TRIDENT Ice Mining Drill for Lunar Volatile Prospecting for PRIME-1 and VIPER Missions . The Planetary Science Journal, 12. Source
    BibTeX
    @article{zacny2025trident,
  title = {{TRIDENT} Ice Mining Drill for Lunar Volatile Prospecting for {PRIME-1} and {VIPER} Missions},
  author = {Zacny, Kris and Chu, Philip and Vendiola, Vincent and Paulsen, Gale and Creekmore, Justin and Goldman, Jason and Kleinhenz, Julie and Smith, James and Colaprete, Anthony},
  journal = {The Planetary Science Journal},
  volume = {6},
  number = {12},
  pages = {297},
  year = {2025},
  doi = {10.3847/psj/ae0b51},
  abstract = {Abstract The Regolith and Ice Drill for Exploration of New Terrains (TRIDENT) is a 1 m class drill developed for capturing regolith and ice during the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) and the Polar Resources Ice Mining Experiment (PRIME-1) lander missions to the south pole of the Moon. The drill employs decoupled rotation and percussion mechanisms to allow for three modes: rotation, percussion, and rotation–percussion, depending on operational goals and the material strength. TRIDENT can be operated in such a way that it can characterize subsurface material and deliver cuttings to the surface for characterization by other instruments. TRIDENT includes a drill-bit-integrated temperature sensor and an auger-integrated heater with a colocated temperature sensor 35 cm above the bit for thermal conductivity measurement. The heater can also be used in cases of ice adherence (freezing in) and to enhance the sublimation of ice from the cuttings pile. TRIDENT collects and delivers subsurface regolith onto the surface using a “bite” sampling approach: cuttings are captured in the auger flutes, the auger is retracted after drilling a 10 cm bite, and then 10 cm worth of cuttings are deposited onto the surface, forming a cuttings cone. This regolith cone is then analyzed by instruments Mass Spectrometer Observing Lunar Operations (MSOLO) and NIRVSS on the VIPER and MSOLO on the PRIME-1 missions. The drilling activity creates a seismic signal that can be detected on any associated inertial measurement unit that is turned on during the activity, which enables seismic science. TRIDENT represents two decades of technology development for planetary applications and could be deployed on any future missions to other solar system bodies. TRIDENT on the PRIME-1 mission has been successfully deployed in horizontal orientation (this orientation was due to the lander being in an off nominal landing orientation). All actuators, sensors, and heaters worked as designed. Even though the drill did not penetrate regolith, it was covered in regolith that fell onto the drill during the landing operation. VIPER is scheduled to launch to the Moon at the end of 2027 on Blue Origin’s Mk1 lander.}
}

Further reading