A team of high school interns in NASA's SEES program spent summer 2026 building computational models for a propellant-measuring technique planned for demonstration on Intuitive Machines' IM-3 lunar mission, according to a NASA report published October 26, 2026. The MATRIX team, mentored by Dr. Kevin Crosby of Carthage College, focused on Modal Propellant Gauging (MPG), which uses the acoustic response of tanks to estimate fuel mass in microgravity, where liquid clings to tank walls instead of settling.

Working only from public sources, including Intuitive Machines mission data and NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory trajectory records for IM-1 and IM-2, the team reconstructed engine burns and ran fluid dynamics and Monte Carlo simulations. Their analysis indicated MPG can take reliable readings during the two primary burns, Lunar Orbit Insertion and Powered Descent, and in some cases during Descent Orbit Insertion, with the spacecraft's starting mass most affecting how long each window lasts. The team also identified candidate IM-3 launch opportunities for 2027 and produced a landing analysis for the Reiner Gamma site.

The IM-3 lander, Trinity, is scheduled to touch down in the Reiner Gamma region in 2027. The team briefed Intuitive Machines' propulsion group and presented at the SEES Annual Symposium and the Wisconsin Space Grant Consortium Annual Conference, with another presentation planned at the AGU Annual Meeting in San Francisco in December 2026.