The mission is being carried out beneath a $118 million contract with NASA, which is paying the corporate to ship six scientific and technological payloads to the moon. Intuitive Machines’ 14-foot-tall Nova-C lander, dubbed Odysseus, is considered one of a number of robotic spacecraft being developed by the non-public sector that NASA hopes will land on the moon within the coming years, serving to the area company to ultimately land astronauts there as a part of its Artemis program.

Not like the Apollo, program, which despatched astronauts to the equatorial areas of the moon, Artemis is aiming to land on the lunar south pole, an unexplored but doubtlessly fruitful area the place there’s water, within the type of ice, in its completely shadowed craters. Odysseus’ touchdown spot is in that space close to a crater known as Malapert A, named for a seventeenth century Belgian astronomer, that is without doubt one of the touchdown websites into account for the Artemis program.

Coming into lunar orbit was a serious milestone for Intuitive Machines that got here six days after the crafted lifted off on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from the Kennedy House Heart in Florida.

“Over the following day, whereas the lander stays in lunar orbit, flight controllers will analyze the entire flight information and transmit imagery of the moon,” Intuitive Machines stated in a submit on X.

Touchdown, nevertheless, is a major problem. Final month, one other industrial area firm, Astrobotic, tried however failed to succeed in the moon when its spacecraft suffered an engine drawback, leading to a gasoline leak. It has stated it would strive once more, maybe as early as this 12 months.

Because it flies across the far aspect of the moon, Odysseus will lose contact with the bottom for about 45 minutes. Every move can even current a problem for the spacecraft because it alternates between the direct warmth of the solar and the chilly darkness behind the moon, which would require “warmth drawn from batteries to maintain its system heat,” in response to the corporate.

Because the automobile begins its descent towards the floor, it should hearth its engine to drop from 62 miles to simply over six miles. Then its cameras and lasers will feed information to onboard navigation computer systems that may autonomously information it to a secure place on the floor. At about 100 ft, it should flip itself to a vertical place with its touchdown legs pointed down. Throughout the descent, the engine thrust will repeatedly lower because the lander burns gasoline and, in consequence, will get lighter and lighter.

Odysseus is also carrying a NASA instrument designed to seize pictures of the mud plume kicked up by the spacecraft’s engines. For the reason that area company anticipates ultimately touchdown a number of spacecraft shut to 1 one other, it needs to higher perceive what results landings have on the moon’s floor and setting.