Intuitive Machines vs Astrobotic

Two commercial lunar lander companies flying NASA payloads under the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program. Both attempted their first Moon missions in early 2024: Intuitive Machines' Odysseus made the first U.S. lunar soft landing since Apollo 17 (though it tipped over), while Astrobotic's Peregrine suffered a propellant leak and never reached the Moon. Astrobotic has been part of Voyager Technologies since July 2026.

First Missions: Hard Lessons on the Moon

Astrobotic's Peregrine Mission One launched on January 8, 2024 on the first flight of ULA's Vulcan Centaur. A propellant leak kept the lander from reaching the Moon; it never left its highly elliptical Earth orbit and ended with a controlled reentry on January 18, 2024.^[3]

Intuitive Machines' IM-1 mission launched its Odysseus lander on February 15, 2024 on a SpaceX Falcon 9. Before descent, controllers found that a safety switch on the primary laser rangefinder had not been activated before launch, and reprogrammed the lander to use an experimental NASA lidar instead. Odysseus landed near Malapert A on February 22, 2024 on a 12-degree slope, broke a leg and tipped onto its side; it kept working until last contact on February 29. It was the first lunar soft landing by a private company and the first U.S. lunar soft landing since Apollo 17 in 1972. Its successor, Athena (IM-2), landed on March 6, 2025 but also came to rest on its side and lost power the next day.^[6,7]

The CLPS Model: NASA's Commercial Lunar Bet

Under CLPS, NASA buys delivery services from commercial companies under fixed-price contracts instead of building its own landers. Intuitive Machines has four CLPS delivery contracts: IM-1 and IM-2 have flown, IM-3 is targeted for late 2026 and IM-4 for the second half of 2027.^[1]

Astrobotic's Griffin lander was to carry NASA's VIPER rover to the lunar south pole, but NASA ended VIPER in July 2024 and let Astrobotic fly Griffin Mission One with other payloads. In February 2025 Astrolab's FLIP rover became the primary payload. Griffin-1 is set to launch on a Falcon Heavy no earlier than November 2026, as Voyager Technologies' first Moon mission; Voyager closed its acquisition of Astrobotic on July 10, 2026.^[2,4,5]

Beyond Delivery: Lunar Services Economy

Both companies do more than deliver payloads. Intuitive Machines is one of two awardees for NASA's Near Space Network direct-to-Earth lunar data services and the sole awardee for its lunar data relay services, was one of three companies NASA picked in April 2024 to study a Lunar Terrain Vehicle (it was not among the two selected in May 2026), and bought the satellite maker Lanteris in January 2026. Astrobotic, with its Carnegie Mellon robotics heritage, built the CubeRover flying on Griffin-1 and the MoonRanger micro-rover, which NASA now plans to send on a Firefly Blue Ghost lander.^{[1,3,9,10,11]}