Moon has first landing of a private spacecraft in history – 02/22/2024 – Science

After a journey of almost eight days, the Odysseus module, from the Houston, Texas-based company Intuitive Machines, became the first private vehicle to make a soft landing on the Moon. Until now, only space agencies had been successful, and only the from five countries: Russia (then known as the Soviet Union), the United States, China, India and Japan.

The feat also marks the first American landing since the manned Apollo 17 mission, in December 1972. Furthermore, the landing was the closest to the lunar south pole ever made, beating the mark of the Indian mission Chandrayaan-3, which last year descended to a latitude of 78 degrees south. Odysseus targeted the Malapert A crater, just 300 km from the south pole.

There is great ambition in exploring this region of the Moon, due to the detection of water inside craters where sunlight never reaches. By the way, the IM-1 target is very close to one of the potential landing sites for the Artemis 3 manned mission, with which the Americans hope to resume exploring the Moon with astronauts later this decade. Likewise, the Chinese have plans to begin manned lunar flights by the end of the decade and establish a base at the South Pole.

The successful result adds value to the investment made by NASA, the American space agency, which decided to implement a lunar exploration program by hiring transport from private companies. Odysseus, a Nova-C class module, developed by Intuitive Machines, transported six of the agency’s instruments to the lunar surface, at a cost of US$118 million.

NASA’s instruments are made up of a radio system that will measure astronomical sources and the plasma environment in the lunar exosphere (the ultra-tenuous, practically zero atmosphere of the satellite), a retroreflector (a passive instrument for measuring the distance to the Moon with a laser) , a device to measure speed and distance from the ground, a stereo camera to observe effects of the propellant plume on the ground during landing, a radio relay for location, and an available fuel gauge.

Cargo dispatched by private entities is also on board, ranging from thermal covers to sculptures, passing through a camera to be ejected and photograph the landing in perspective.

The mission began in the early hours of February 15, with the launch of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, propelling the Odysseus on a translunar trajectory. The objective was to reach the Moon quickly due to an innovation in the project: the use of an engine powered by cryogenic methane and oxygen. It guarantees greater power due to the amount of fuel available, but it also carries the risk of the phenomenon known as “boil-off”, in which the propellants gradually evaporate and escape from the tanks, which empty more quickly.

Judging by Intuitive Machines’ daily reports, performance was impeccable. Apart from a short delay in cooling the liquid oxygen injection lines in space, compared to performance on Earth, the engine commissioning maneuvers went very well. Its first shot into space took place last Friday (16), testing both its total strength and a reduced thrust, which would be necessary for the lunar landing.

On Sunday (18) and Tuesday (20), two trajectory correction maneuvers were carried out, with such precision that they did not require a planned third. On Wednesday (21), a major challenge was overcome, with the burn that allowed lunar orbital insertion. Odysseus then established itself on a circular trajectory around the Moon at an altitude of 92 km. Landing would originally take place at 7:49 pm. It was later brought forward to 6:24 pm, but then the controllers decided to take another trip around the Moon, aiming for a landing at 8:24 pm this Thursday (22).

The additional orbit was to resolve a problem with the system that measures distance to the ground, which turned out to be non-functional. One of NASA’s onboard equipment was used instead, and the landing took place, but accompanied by loss of communication. Finally, after a few minutes, the signal was detected from the surface indicating the successful landing.

With the size of a traditional British telephone booth and weighing 675 kg, Odysseus must operate its instruments on lunar soil for about a week before ending the mission. With this, Intuitive Machines inaugurates the era of commercial exploration of the Moon, after three other failed attempts, by the SpaceIL group (Israel), in 2019, and by the companies ispace (Japan), in 2023, and Astrobotic (USA), in 2024 Apart from SpaceIL, all the others intend to make new flights to the Moon this year.