Intuitive Machines was one of three service providers awarded task orders in 2019 for delivery of NASA science payloads to the Moon.

[16] NASA documents obtained by The New York Times suggested the agency would involve the private spaceflight sector in the effort.

[17] In 2018, NASA solicited bids from nine companies, including Intuitive Machines, for the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program.

Intuitive Machines was one of three service providers awarded task orders in 2019 for delivery of NASA science payloads to the Moon.

[23] Nova-C is capable of 24/7 data coverage for its client payloads[2] The lander is designed to stay upright when landing on a slope of up to 10 degrees.

[5] The mission launched 15 February 2024 on a Falcon 9 launch vehicle and landed with a "rough"[citation needed] - soft landing on 22 February 2024 in the South Pole region of the moon, approximately at 80.13° South latitude and 1.44° East longitude, inside a shallow 1 km diameter crater with a 12° slope.

Upon initial contact with the lunar surface, the lander broke a leg off of the hexagonal body, and bounced back along the line of approach, with the main engine and RCS firing to null out vertical and lateral velocities.

After landing vertically, the lander slowly settled onto the lunar surface with the top solar array pointed in the general direction of Schomberger crater.

[46][47] ILO-1 prime contractor Canadensys is working to deliver "a flight-ready low-cost optical payload for the ILO-1 mission, ruggedized for the Moon South Pole environment".

[50] Spaceflight will deliver rideshare payloads on this mission aboard its Sherpa EScape (Sherpa-ES) space tug called Geo Pathfinder.

This payload is designed to monitor the radiation field on the Moon and help understand how to protect crew and equipment from the negative effects of cosmic rays.

[57][58] A collaboration in order to demonstrate 4G cellular connectivity, in partnership with Nokia Bell Labs and NASA will be aboard the lander.

[59] Nokia's equipment is a Network-In-a-Box and will connect the Nova-C lander with Lunar Outpost's MAPP rover and IM's Micro-Nova Hopper.

[11][63] The lander will conduct experiments investigating the properties of the unexpected magnetic field that has been detected in the vicinity of the Reiner Gamma swirl.

[65] Additional IM-3 payloads include the Cooperative Autonomous Distributed Robotic Explorers (CADRE) rovers, ESA's MoonLIGHT Pointing Actuator (MPAc) and KASI's Lunar Space Environment Monitor (LUSEM).

[28] In an interview with NASA recorded in October 2023, Tim Crain, CTO of Intuitive Machines, mentioned the possible development of a Nova-D lander.

[69] Early reports of the in-development Nova-D state that it will use two of the VR-900 engines and be capable of carrying more than 500 kg to the lunar surface.

[70] In August 2024, Intuitive Machines proposed a mission to deliver NASA's VIPER rover to the Moon on a Nova-D lander no earlier than late 2027.