Mission Summary
IM-4 is Intuitive Machines’ fourth planned lunar landing, scheduled for 2027 and aimed once more at the Moon’s south pole. Flying under NASA’s commercial lunar program, it is set to carry six NASA payloads, including a European-led drill suite designed to search for water beneath the surface.
Alongside the lander, the mission will deploy two lunar data-relay satellites, part of the company’s effort to build a communications network around the Moon under a NASA contract. The lander is designed to operate autonomously once it reaches the surface.
IM-4 extends Intuitive Machines’ run of south-polar missions and, with its drilling experiment, moves from detecting signs of water toward digging for it directly. It is one of several commercial flights meant to prepare the south pole for the crewed Artemis landings.
Sources and notes can be found on the Sources page.
