INFICON Technology Prepares for Takeoff to the Moon
Powering Space Exploration through Lunar Gas Detection
As NASA prepares to launch science and technology aboard Intuitive Machine’s second flight to the moon in late February, advanced technology from INFICON is playing an important role in supporting NASA’s lunar exploration goals. INFICON quadrupole mass spectrometer instruments are helping power NASA’s Mass Spectrometer Observing Lunar Operations (MSOLO) payload, which is a key exploration technology of the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative within NASA’s Artemis campaign.
This program aims to return humans to the moon and eventually Mars. Before sending astronauts, NASA is relying on the MSOLO and similar robotic exploration payloads to characterize and prepare lunar landing sites, gathering information about its resources for a long-term lunar base. The Transpector® MPH from INFICON is the technology behind the MSOLO instrument to help analyze the moon’s environment by quantifying the amount of water present in the regolith and measure any other possible volatiles present. It will be the first U.S.-manufactured mass spectrometer to go to the moon since the Apollo 17 mission in 1972 and the first Commercial-Off-the-Shelf mass spectrometer instrument used for lunar surface exploration.
“This project has taken more than 12 years in the making, but we are going to the Moon! We’re proud to be part of this endeavor supporting NASA’s initiatives to explore the moon and study the areas where astronauts will eventually land. Important scientific questions will be answered through the smart gas sensing capabilities we are providing to the lander,” said Dr. Andres Diaz, university professor and senior research scientist at INFICON who has been involved with this project since 2012.
To prepare for the launch, NASA worked with INFICON to ruggedize the mass spectrometer components so it could withstand the extreme conditions of space. It went through numerous tests and validations to certify the instrument was ready for flight. Watch this video to learn more about how NASA prepared the Transpector MPH for the mission.
NASA’s first CLPS flight to carry the MSOLO payload is PRIME-1 (Polar Resources Ice Mining Experiment-1), targeted to land near the lunar South Pole with the Intuitive Machines IM-2 ATHENA lander to be launched by a Falcon 9 Space X rocket.
The mission will play a crucial role in investigating and characterizing potential landing sites for human exploration. It will also provide vital data on resources necessary for establishing a sustainable lunar base through In Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU), supporting long-term human presence on the moon. The main objective of MSOLO is to measure and quantify water and other resources that lie beneath the Lunar surface as the onboard lander drill into the regolith up to 1m in depth. It will also characterize low molecular weight isotopic ratios—for example, deuterium to hydrogen ratio (D/H) and oxygen isotopes ratio (O18/O16)—to help identify the source of the lunar water.
“Why water? Because it’s the most important resource in space exploration,” Dr. Diaz explained. “You can use it to create oxygen for astronauts and hydrogen for fuel. By making water the main goal of the missions, NASA and other space agencies, as well as commercial space companies, can make long-term space exploration more feasible and affordable.”
The IM-2 mission is now targeted for a four-day launch window beginning Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2025, from Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., pending favorable conditions. If successful, additional MSOLO payloads are expected to be added to other CLPS and Artemis campaigns in the near future.
“NASA’s commitment to exploration and discovery drives us to push boundaries, paving the way for collaboration in an exciting new frontier. We are proud to partner with the MSOLO team on this opportunity and look forward to future launches,” Dr. Diaz said.
To learn more about this mission, read this article.