Private moon mission blasts off

A private US spacecraft launched towards the Moon on Thursday (Friday in Manila) with the goal of landing close to the south pole and conducting research that will prepare the way for the arrival of American astronauts later this decade.

Intuitive Machines, the Houston-based company leading mission “IM-1,” hopes to become the first non-government entity to achieve a soft touchdown on our celestial companion, and to land the first US robot on the surface since the Apollo missions more than five decades ago.

There was a failed attempt by another US company last month, so this time around, it matters more to prove the resilience of the American aerospace industry.

At 1:05 a.m. local time (0605 GMT), Intuitive Machines’ hexagon-shaped Nova-C lander, named “Odysseus,” launched from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

“We are keenly aware of the immense challenges that lie ahead,” CEO Steve Altemus said in a news release, confirming Odysseus had successfully established contact with ground control and all systems were working normally.

The spaceship, which carries a powerful new type of engine based on supercooled liquid methane and oxygen should reach its landing site, Malapert A, on 22 February, an impact crater 300 kilometers (180 miles) from the south pole.

With Artemis, NASA’s flagship Moon-to-Mars program, the agency eventually wants to establish a permanent presence and harvest ice for rocket fuel and drinking water.

The agency paid Intuitive Machines $118 million to ship science hardware to better understand and mitigate environmental risks for astronauts, the first of whom are scheduled to land no sooner than 2026.

Instruments include cameras to investigate how the lunar surface changes as a result of engine plumes kicking up dust and a device to analyze the charged dust haze that appears during lunar twilight as a result of solar radiation.

Odysseus also carries an advanced landing system that uses laser pulses to detect hazards like small boulders and craters.

There is more colorful cargo aboard as well, including a digital archive of human knowledge and 125 mini-sculptures of the Moon by the artist Jeff Koons.

After touchdown, the payloads are expected to run for roughly seven days before lunar night sets in on the south pole, with the lack of solar power rendering Odysseus inoperable.

IM-1 is the second mission under a NASA initiative called Commercial Lunar Payload Services, which the space agency created to delegate cargo services to the private sector to achieve savings and stimulate a wider lunar economy. Four more CLPS launches are expected this year.

The first, by Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic, launched in January, but its Peregrine spacecraft experienced an engine anomaly that caused a fuel leak and it was eventually brought back to burn up in Earth’s atmosphere.

With AFP