The smooth landing of the four-meter high module on the moon also marks the first American contact with the lunar surface since the end of the Apollo program, i.e. since 1972.
First, the lander was guided to the descent path, the technicians at the ground center thus reduced the flight height of the module from approximately 100 kilometers above the lunar surface to only 10 km, the portal reminds Space.com.
Subsequently, a powered landing was initiated. The actual landing on the lunar surface, specifically 300 kilometers from the lunar south pole in the area of the Malapert A impact crater, occurred at 0:24 CET.
The first private moon landing attempt. The Odysseus module has started
Landing time changes
Even on Thursday, there was information that the landing would take place that day at 23:30 CET, then the time changed to 22:24 and finally to 0:24, i.e. already Friday.
“Intuitive Machines Control Center updated – after the analysis of the performed motor maneuver – the landing schedule of the Nova-C lander. Currently, the landing is planned already at 22:24 CET,” stated first on the X network cosmonautics specialist Michal Václavík from the Czech Space Agency and the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering of the Czech Technical University in Prague.
But then it happened another change and the landing sequence was delayed this time to the mentioned time of 0:24. According to Václavík, experts from the control center requested additional time.
‼️Caution‼️ Another change of landing date. Experts from the control center have requested additional time and the landing sequence is being delayed. The Nova-C lander will land tomorrow at 00:24 CET (tonight). pic.twitter.com/Rx8JtVy123
— Michal Vaclavik (@Kosmo_Michal) February 22, 2024
The company Intuitive Machines from Houston, Texas plans to broadcast the event live on its website website.
The landing area is full of traps
The landing area is full of pitfalls anyway – littered with craters and cliffs, but is considered an ideal location for future manned missions. It is assumed that there is ice in permanently shaded craters.
Foto: Intuitive Machines
Image of the Moon from the Nova-C Odysseus lander
The Nova-C module, named as part of this mission Odysseus, launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on February 15. According to Intuitive Machines, he managed the roughly week-long journey to the moon without difficulty.
In the past few days, the apparatus was guided by its own motor maneuver into a low circular orbit of the Moon, on which it “settled” in the center.
Flight controllers received and analyzed data from the February 16th engine Commissioning Maneuver (CM). Data from the 21-second full-thrust mainstage engine CM confirmed Odysseus hit its 21 m/s target with approximately 0.8 m/s accuracy. The GIF below was created from images… pic.twitter.com/c0lnLikEBu
— Intuitive Machines (@Int_Machines) February 19, 2024
Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C Odysseus lander delivered scientific experiments, technology demonstrators, and commercial payloads, totaling up to 130 kilograms of cargo, to the surface of the Moon as part of this IM-1 mission.
The probe was created as part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services program.
It also carries 125 artistic miniatures
Odysseus brought NASA’s research load to the lunar surface, for which the agency paid 118 million dollars (2.8 billion crowns). Six devices on the lander will facilitate preparations for the Artemis III crew mission, according to the agency.
In addition, the module carried cargo from commercial clients including a series of artworks by American sculptor Jeff Koons: 125 stainless steel miniatures depicting the phases of the moon.
Odysseus’ Terrain Relative Navigation camera captured this image of the Bel’kovich K crater in the Moon’s northern equatorial highlands.
It is an approximate 50 km diameter crater with mountains in the center, made when the crater was formed.
(21FEB2024 1750 CST) pic.twitter.com/0egu0NOrKP— Intuitive Machines (@Int_Machines) February 21, 2024
Failed commercial attempts
The Japanese company ispace also attempted a private landing on the moon last year with the Hakuto-R module. It reached the orbit of the moon, but it failed to land softly on the lunar surface.
The Japanese module crashed on the moon and probably shattered
The competitor was Intuitive Machines in the American Astrobotic Technology, which sent the Peregrine lunar module to the moon in January.
A few hours after launch, however, the company reported a critical fuel leak, which forced it to abandon the moon landing. Peregrine, which was supposed to land on the lunar surface on February 23, eventually returned to Earth and burned up in the atmosphere.
The Peregrine lunar module burned up in Earth’s atmosphere
The United States last visited the Moon in 1972 as part of the Apollo 17 mission. It is also the last time a person lived on a natural Earth satellite, a country other than the USA failed to send a human crew to the Moon. The Soviet Union, China, India and Japan also received probes there.
NASA wants to return astronauts to the moon before the end of this decade with the Artemis program. However, at the beginning of January, the agency announced that it is postponing the next phase by a year to September 2025 (when the manned module is supposed to fly around the moon) and September 2026 (when people are supposed to land on it).
NASA completed the first phase at the end of 2022, when the unmanned Orion module circled the Moon and returned to Earth.
NASA postpones Artemis mission. Humans will not be on the lunar surface until 2026 at the earliest
2024-02-22 20:56:01
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