Intuitive Machines (IM), a premiere provider and supplier of space products and services, has announced the appointment of Dr. Tim Crain as chief technology officer (CTO). Dr. Crain has served as the company’s vice president of research and development since co-founding IM in 2013 with Mr. Steve Altemus and Dr. Kam Ghaffarian. The transition to CTO comes after rapid growing demand for IM’s Lunar Payload and Data Services (LPDS) program.

“I’ve been training for the design and successful operation of spacecraft for precision planetary landing my entire career,” said Dr. Crain. “The opportunity to be in charge of developing the technologies we need to repeatably and reliably land on the Moon as a commercial company is something I never imagined in my wildest dreams.”

“It is not often in life that you come across a technical mind that is as acute and flexible as Dr. Tim Crain’s,” said Steve Altemus, IM’s president, and CEO. “His imagination and problem-solving ability make him a discriminator in this industry.  We are so pleased to have him as the CTO of Intuitive Machines.”

Dr. Crain developed the framework for IM’s approach to Precision Landing and Hazard Avoidance (PLHA) on Nova landers by leveraging practical experience from the NASA Autonomous Landing and Hazard Avoidance Task (ALHAT). The newly appointed CTO has implemented the original sensor processing and navigation flight-software for the Nova-C vehicle, which will stick the landing on the Moon twice in the next 20 months. IM-1 will be the first commercial lander to the Moon in the first quarter of 2022 and IM-2 is scheduled to land in late 2022. IM-2 will be the first spacecraft to land on the lunar South Pole, the first to conduct extreme mobility services, and drill for ice on the Moon. 

About Intuitive Machines 

Intuitive Machines is a premier provider and supplier of space products and services that enable sustained robotic and human exploration to the Moon, Mars and beyond. We drive markets with competitive world-class offerings synonymous with innovation, high quality, and precision. Whether leveraging state-of-the-art engineering tools and practices or integrating research and advanced technologies, our solutions are insightful and have a positive impact on the world.