Intuitive Machines has been selected by NASA JPL to provide the spacecraft platform and system-level integration for its FALCON-RADAR
Targeting launch no earlier than 2029, FALCON-RADAR will fly on our IM 300™ spacecraft bus to its planned polar orbit carrying a W-Band Cloud Profiling Doppler Radar instrument that will peer inside Earth’s clouds, helping scientists better understand precipitation and atmospheric processes. The radar technology may support advances toward Moon and Mars applications.
The FALCON-RADAR spacecraft is being developed in collaboration with EAGLE-VSWIR, another NASA mission recently awarded to Intuitive Machines. Together, these missions will collect data that complement one another.
FALCON-RADAR marks our third award supporting NASA’s Earth science in the last six months, along with NASA’s EAGLE-VSWIR and EDGE missions. EDGE, managed by NASA Goddard, is planned to fly on our IM 500 spacecraft bus.
Why this matters for talent
Intuitive Machines was selected by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory to provide the spacecraft platform and system level integration for the FALCON RADAR Earth science mission. Intuitive Machines lists 83 open roles on the board. A new mission selection of this kind typically sustains hiring in spacecraft engineering and systems integration roles over the life of the program.
Read the original LinkedIn post. Curated by Larry Sherwood Jr. from company announcements; analysis above is my own.