Intuitive Machines To Repurpose Gateway Element For Mars Mission

HOUSTON—Intuitive Machines (IM) is working to repurpose the solar electric power and propulsion element (PPE) spacecraft bus of NASA’s paused lunar-orbiting Gateway space station for the agency’s Mars mission.

Under the plan, IM will make PPE part of the agency’s Space Reactor-1 (SR-1) Freedom nuclear electric-propelled Mars mission to deliver three Ingenuity class Skyfall helicopters to Mars.

The pause of the planned human-tended Gateway was formally disclosed as part of NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman’s March 24 “ignition” presentation. During that presentation, he outlined the response to President Trump’s American Space Superiority executive order last December to accelerate the agency’s Moon mission launch cadence. The new plan focuses on a three-phase human Moon base development strategy, starting in late 2028 with the Artemis IV mission.

In February 2021, NASA selected SpaceX for a dual Falcon Heavy launch of the PPE and the Habitation and Logistics Outpost modules for Gateway no earlier than May 2024 into a very elliptical lunar orbit.

Based on the Ingenuity drone helicopter that was part of the initial Mars operations carried out by NASA’s Perseverance rover mission to Jezero Crater, the Skyfall helicopters are to be equipped with cameras, ground-penetrating radar and radios to survey potential landing sites for human Mars missions, search for subsurface water and relay navigational data for future lander missions.

Steve Altemus, IM’s co-founder, CEO and a former deputy director of NASA’s Johnson Space Center, acknowledged but also embraced the growing challenges facing the commercial space industry in an updated memo distributed on March 30.

“The timelines for delivery are incredibly short, and the technical hurdles appear insurmountable. However, imagine what we can achieve and how far we will go if we accept and embrace NASA’s challenge,” Altemus noted. “Embracing NASA’s call for high-cadence missions to test the systems for a Moon Base and use existing hardware may not achieve 100% success, but we will certainly go farther than we ever imagined with a crisp and concise vision.”

NASA announced plans for a four-person Gateway in 2019 and went on to establish international partnerships for the lunar space station with the Canadian, European and Japanese space agencies and the United Arab Emirates space program.

In 2022, NASA’s Glenn Research Center announced it was partnering with Maxar Technologies to design and build a 60-kW PPE to power the Gateway’s subsystems and solar electric propulsion system.

In January, IM announced it had completed the $800 million acquisition of Lanteris Space Systems, of Palo Alto, California, formerly Maxar Space Systems, providing the Houston firm with a flight-proven spacecraft manufacturing capability.

IM is also one of NASA’s initially certified Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) contractors and has so far launched two of its five contracted robotic missions.

The initial IM-1 mission, Odysseus, conducted the first robotic soft landing at the lunar south pole in 2024 and then tipped, though its payloads remained functional until lunar darkness fell, cutting off solar power. IM-2, Athena, also touched down at the lunar south pole on March 6, 2025. Disoriented Athena was unable to generate power, bringing the mission to a close the following day.

Founded in 2013, IM is also developing a Lunar Terrain Vehicle for the transportation of astronauts and equipment on the Moon’s surface and establishing a lunar communications and navigation constellation.

“These challenges are aligned with our strategy to build spacecraft, connect networks, and operate infrastructure in space. Yet, the strategy of one company will not achieve all of these ambitious goals. It takes the power and innovation of the U.S. economy and the entire space sector. It takes a bold vision to unite us and stretch us to reach for the unobtainable. We have that now,” Altemus said.