PRIME-1

Polar Resources Ice Mining Experiment-1 (PRIME-1), the primary payload for the 'Intuitive Machines 2' (IM2) mission, is a NASA mission to land a robotic probe near the South Pole of the Moon. The mission is a part of the Artemis program. The experiment is designed to search for water ice on the Moon at a permanently shadowed location near Shackleton Crater, close to the lunar south pole. The probe will carry a drill and mass spectrometer.

The 36-kilogram (80 lb) PRIME-1 payload is scheduled for launch on a Falcon 9 in February 2025 as part of the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program on the Intuitive Machines Nova-C lunar lander "Athena" in the IM-2 mission. ^{[1] [2]}

If successfully deployed, PRIME-1 will be the first attempt to show the feasibility of efforts on the lunar surface "to generate products with local materials," a process formally termed as in situ resource utilization (ISRU). Additionally, this will be NASA's first attempt to robotically sample and analyze lunar ice below the surface.

History

In December 2022, NASA selected Intuitive Machines to design a lander for the PRIME-1 experiment drill, which was the companies second Moon contract with NASA. ^{[3] [4] [5]}

In November 2023 a mission simulation was undertaken by engineers at the Kennedy Space centre. ^[6]

Payload

The mission is set to launch on a Falcon 9 in early 2025, using Intuitive Machines Nova-C landing platform as part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program. Under this initiative, NASA partners with commercial providers, with Intuitive Machines supplying the lander for this mission. The Lunar Trailblazer mission (a lunar orbiter) is planned as a secondary payload for this launch. ^{[7] [8]}

The PRIME-1 payload will be around 40kg or 88lbs. ^[9]

Instruments

Engineers prepare the Mass Spectrometer Observing Lunar Operations (MSolo) instrument

The PRIME-1 Lander will measure the volatile content of subsurface samples on the Moon. The scientific equipment consists primarily of a Mass Spectrometer for Observing Lunar Operations (MSOLO), and The Regolith and Ice Drill for Exploring New Terrain (TRIDENT). ^{[10] [11] [12]}

PRIME-1 is composed of two components, both of which will be mounted to a commercial lunar lander:

• The Regolith and Ice Drill for Exploring New Terrain (TRIDENT): TRIDENT will drill up to three feet deep, extracting lunar regolith, or soil, up to the surface. The instrument can drill in multiple segments, pausing and retracting to deposit cuttings on the surface after each depth increment.

• Mass Spectrometer observing lunar operations (MSolo): This modified-for-spaceflight, commercial-off-the-shelf mass spectrometer will evaluate the drill cuttings for water and other chemical compounds. Soil samples from multiple depths will be analyzed. ^[13]

A version of TRIDENT and MSolo was to be used on NASA's cancelled VIPER rover in the search for water ice. ^[14]

References

• Spaceflight portal

1. David, Leonard (12 September 2024). "Ice-hunting Lunar Trailblazer and IM-2 nearly ready for January 2025 launch". SpaceNews . Retrieved 12 September 2024.
2. "NASA - NSSDCA - Spacecraft - Details". nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov. Retrieved 19 January 2023.
3. Machines, Intuitive (16 October 2020). "NASA Selects Intuitive Machines to Deliver Lunar Ice Drill in 2022". Intuitive Machines. Retrieved 19 December 2024.
4. "NASA's PRIME-1 to search for moon's ice - collectSPACE: Messages". www.collectspace.com. Retrieved 19 December 2024.
5. "NASA Selects Intuitive Machines to Land Water-Measuring Payload PRIME-1 on the Moon". SciTechDaily. 18 October 2020. Retrieved 19 December 2024.
6. "PRIME-1 Simulation". Moon Daily. Retrieved 19 December 2024.
7. "Intuitive Machines 2 (PRIME 1)". nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov.
8. Tariq Malik (22 October 2020). "NASA picks Intuitive Machines to land an ice-mining drill on the moon". Space.com. Retrieved 19 December 2024.
9. "NASA Asks Commercial Partners to Land Water-Measuring Drill on Moon - NASA". 29 July 2020. Retrieved 19 December 2024.
10. "Polar Resources Ice Mining Experiment 1 (PRIME-1) - NASA" . Retrieved 19 December 2024.
11. "Falcon 9 Block 5 | PRIME-1 (IM-2)". nextspaceflight.com. Retrieved 19 December 2024.
12. "Nova-C IM-2 (PRIME 1, CLPS 3)". Gunter's Space Page. Retrieved 19 December 2024.
13. Polar Resources Ice Mining Experiment-1 This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .
14. Malik, Tariq (23 October 2020). "NASA picks Intuitive Machines to land an ice-mining drill on the moon". Space.com. Retrieved 17 May 2024.