Intuitive Machines of Houston, Texas, is an engineering firm specializing in automation and aerospace leading an effort to develop a commercial Lunar Payload and Data Service (LPDS) which provides transit to lunar orbit, payload delivery to the lunar surface, and data communications and power services to assets both in lunar orbit and on the surface.
Power Systems are the cornerstone of any mission, the system of a satellite has to perform a number of different tasks, starting with maximising the power you take from your solar panels, converting it to useful voltages to power electronics and charge batteries, store energy safely in the batteries and finally distribute power to all systems when they need it. And this must be done while autonomously protecting everything from unexpected events in all conditions during the entire mission lifetime.
The Swedish based company’s solutions have already demonstrated impressive space-based capabilities stretching across a range of applications, from IoT and communications to Earth observation and now this year it’ll be moon exploration!