Intuitive Machines, a Houston-based company, has achieved a historic milestone by successfully landing its Odysseus lander on the moon. This marks the first time a U.S.-built spacecraft has made a moon landing in over 50 years and the first ever by a private company. The nail-biting descent took one hour and 13 minutes, with the lander’s methane-fueled main engine igniting at around 3:11 p.m. EST to lower the orbit and approach the landing site near the moon’s south pole.
During the descent, Odysseus utilized on-board cameras and lasers to scan the lunar surface and identify landmarks. This information was then used to fine-tune the trajectory of the lander. At approximately 4:12 p.m., the main engine ignited again at an altitude of 18 miles, flipping Odysseus from a horizontal to a vertical orientation. The spacecraft descended at a speed of just under 4 mph, gradually slowing down to approximately 2.2 mph as it approached the surface.
One unique feature of this mission is the inclusion of an innovative camera package called “EagleCam,” developed by students at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. This camera package was designed to capture the lander’s final descent from the side, providing valuable imagery of this historic moment. Additionally, NASA cameras on board the spacecraft captured images of the ground directly below.
While video footage from the on-board cameras and EagleCam cannot be transmitted back to Earth in real time, engineers at Intuitive Machines’ Nova Control center in Houston expect to verify touchdown within about 15 seconds. The first pictures are anticipated to be received within approximately half an hour.
This successful lunar landing is significant as it marks the first time a U.S.-built spacecraft has achieved this feat since the Apollo 17 mission in 1972. It also represents a major milestone for privately-built spacecraft, as previous attempts by private companies, including Astrobotic’s Peregrine lander, have been unsuccessful. The Odysseus lander, along with the Peregrine lander, received funding from NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services program (CLPS), which aims to encourage private industry to develop transportation capabilities for lunar missions.
Odysseus is equipped with a range of instruments, including six NASA instruments and six commercial payloads. These payloads include small moon sculptures by artist Jeff Koons, proof-of-concept cloud storage technology, Columbia Sportswear insulation blankets, and a small astronomical telescope. The NASA experiments onboard include instruments to study the charged particle environment at the moon’s surface, test navigation technologies, and capture images of the lander’s engine exhaust disrupting the lunar soil.
Another notable feature of the Odysseus lander is an innovative sensor that uses radio waves to accurately determine the amount of cryogenic propellant remaining in a tank in the weightless environment of space. This technology is expected to be valuable for future moon missions and deep space voyages.
Odysseus and its instruments are expected to operate on the lunar surface for approximately one week, until the sun sets at the landing site. At that point, the lander’s solar cells will no longer be able to generate power, and the spacecraft will shut down. It was not designed to survive the extreme cold of the lunar night.
This achievement by Intuitive Machines represents a significant step forward in lunar exploration and sets the stage for future missions to the moon. With NASA’s goal of landing astronauts near the moon’s south pole later this decade as part of the Artemis program, the data collected by Odysseus and other CLPS-funded missions will prove crucial in developing new technologies and ensuring the success of future lunar endeavors.