Intuitive Machines wins NASA contract for FALCON-RADAR Earth science mission
NASA's JPL picked Intuitive Machines to build the spacecraft platform for FALCON-RADAR, a cloud-profiling radar mission targeted for 2029.
what happened
Intuitive Machines says NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory selected it to provide the spacecraft platform and system-level integration for FALCON-RADAR, flying its IM 300 bus with a W-Band Cloud Profiling Doppler Radar instrument on a single polar-orbiting, sun-synchronous satellite targeted for launch no earlier than 2029. The mission is part of NASA's FALCON fleet and complements the EAGLE-VSWIR mission, also awarded to Intuitive Machines. Contract value was not disclosed.
why it matters
This is Intuitive Machines' third NASA Earth science mission award in six months, extending the IM 300 bus's track record as a repeat choice for NASA's smallsat science fleet. For NASA, betting multiple instruments on one commercial bus line concentrates schedule risk but keeps unit costs down across the FALCON constellation.
signal-to-noise
quick facts
- Companies
- Intuitive Machines, NASA
- Category
- contract
- Impact
- notable
- SNR
- 4 / 5
- Event date
- 2026-11-03
- Published
- 2026-11-03 14:57 UTC