NASA Selects Intuitive Machines to Support Tracking for Artemis II

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (“NASA”) has announced its selection of Intuitive Machines as part of 34 global volunteers chosen to track the Artemis II Mission (“Artemis II”). The Company will support the mission using its Space Data Network (“SDN”) and ground station infrastructure.  Intuitive Machines is among volunteers spanning commercial service providers, members of academia, and individual amateur radio enthusiasts approved by NASA to track the radio waves transmitted by the Orion spacecraft during its 10-day journey to and around the Moon. The mission's first launch window opens Feb. 6.  

The Artemis II test flight will launch NASA’s Space Launch System (“SLS”) rocket, carrying the Orion spacecraft and a crew of four astronauts, on a mission to deep space. The agency’s second mission in the Artemis campaign is a key step in NASA’s path toward establishing a long-term presence at the Moon and confirming the systems needed to support future lunar surface exploration and paving the way for the first crewed mission to Mars.  

Intuitive Machines will use one-way Doppler measurements on its commercially available SDN and ground station infrastructure to track radio waves transmitted by the in-flight Artemis I Orion spacecraft. The Company’s SDN, formerly the Lunar Data Network (LDN), now reflects its expanded role supporting missions throughout the Earth–Moon system and beyond. One-way Doppler measurements help determine the spacecraft’s position and velocity during its journey. Tiny shifts in the frequency of the Orion spacecraft’s radio signal from the Doppler effect reveal how fast the spacecraft is moving relative to Earth and whether it’s accelerating or slowing down. Intuitive Machines monitors these shifts in real-time, receiving and downlinking the Orion spacecraft’s signals through its SDN and ground station infrastructure.  

NASA’s Near Space Network, which Intuitive Machines helps support through its SDN, and NASA’s Deep Space Network, coordinated by the agency’s Space Communications and Navigation (“SCaN”) program, will provide primary communications and tracking service to support Orion’s launch, journey around the Moon, and return to Earth. Intuitive Machines will track radio waves transmitted by Orion during its journey.  

“In partnership with NASA, tracking Artemis II is another opportunity to strengthen and expand our Space Data Network, while we continue our work under the agency’s Near Space Network services contract. We look forward to providing resilient, persistent networking for future Artemis campaign missions and our commercial partners,” said Intuitive Machines CEO Steve Altemus. 

These capabilities enable the navigation coverage needed to support safe operation of Artemis missions, human landing systems, lunar terrain vehicles, Commercial Lunar Payload Services (“CLPS”) flights, and other missions operating in the near-space region. Intuitive Machines will submit data to NASA for analysis, helping the agency assess the space community’s tracking capabilities and identify ways to augment future Moon and Mars mission support. No funds are being exchanged as a part of this collaboration. 

Intuitive Machines’ tracking of Artemis II builds on the Company’s success in tracking Artemis I in 2022. During that mission, Intuitive Machines tracked the Orion spacecraft to a record-breaking distance of more than 270,000 miles from Earth, providing NASA with one-way Doppler measurements throughout the outbound and return trajectories. That campaign contributed to communications and data standards for spaceflight, including implementation, formatting, and data quality. The experience tracking Artemis I with the Intuitive Machines SDN informed closed-loop tracking and improvements on the IM-1 and IM-2 missions in 2024 and 2025 that led to landings on the lunar south pole.  Explore how Intuitive Machines’ Space Data Network delivers resilient tracking and navigation for missions beyond Earth orbit.