Intuitive Machines Developing Sample Return Vehicle for ISS National Lab

October 25, 2014

Matthew Monaghan

The Terrestrial Return Vehicle (TRV) contains all of the necessary subsystems for protecting the payload during the return trip and delivering it accurately to a landing location such as a dry lakebed, where it can be readily retrieved. Once recovered, the payload will be removed from the TRV and delivered to the customer.

Houston, TX-based Intuitive Machines LLC in cooperation with NASA has been selected by the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS) to develop a Terrestrial Return Vehicle (TRV) that will enable on-demand, rapid return of small samples and components from the International Space Station (ISS) National Laboratory to Earth. The timely delivery of critical or perishable samples is essential in enabling new research aboard the ISS National Laboratory. Currently, retrieval and return of experiment results from the ISS are restricted to only a couple of times per year and requires a lengthy upfront planning process. In contrast, the performance of Intuitive Machines' TRV allows for frequent delivery opportunities with same-day delivery of samples from ISS to the researcher's laboratory. Intuitive Machines is responsible for the overall design and certification of the return vehicle, as well as payload return services for its customers. CASIS will provide integration onto a commercial launch vehicle for access to the ISS, as well as on-orbit flight operations services. Intuitive Machines will provide this service to a range of customers, including scientific, academic, commercial, and government. This new capability will enable increased utilization of the ISS as a national laboratory and improve the commercialization opportunities of experiments for terrestrial benefit. The first flight of the TRV from the ISS is planned for 2016.