For the first time since 1972, a spacecraft released from the United States, gently landed on the surface of the moon. And for the first time, this successful extraterrestrial landing was achieved by a spacecraft built and controlled by private industry, and not by the state space program.
At 6:23 p.m. Est 14.1-foot on the langer, reminiscent of a police stand on stilts, went down to the surface of the moon on an air blue flame of a rocket exhaust. After a few seconds, six feet of the Lander dragged on in the dark soil of Malapert A, a crater located deep in the southern latitudes of the moon.
This robotic Voyager, aptly transparent Odysseus, carries six scientific payloads on the name of NASA. But, which is important, the American space agency does not fulfill the mission: Odysseus is the first commercial spaceship, when, when it landed on another celestial organ.
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Odysseus was built and controlled Intuitive machinesPrivate company Spaceflight, based in Houston, as part IM-1 missionThe field in addition to NASA equipment, Odysseus carries useful loads from private customers who vary from Group of sculptures of the artist Jeff Kuns To Robotized Camera “Selfie” Built by students in the Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.
And, like his namesake from ancient Greek epics, Odysseus ran into trials when he sailed to the lunar surface. Just a few hours before landing, two lasers on board, which Odysseus planned to use to detect the surface of the moon, broke. In response, intuitive machines improvised a software patch that allows Odysseus to command two lasers on board Experimental useful navigation load NASA was built.
For more than 15 minutes after landing, the flight control of intuitive machines in Houston, Texas, was waiting in intense silence, when flight controllers tried to make contact with Odyssey. “Signs of life, we have a return signal that we track,” said Tim Crane, IM-1 Intuitive Machines IM-1 technology director. “We are also not dead yet.”
A few minutes later, Crane confirmed that Odysseus passed from the surface of the moon, although weakly. In the press, the cause of the signal weakness remains unclear.
IM-1-first American mission, which gently lands on the lunar surface since Apollo 17 In 1972. And unlike IM-1, Apollo 17 There was a crew. The last robotic soft landing on the moon took place in January 1968 with a landing NASA LANDER SURVEYOR 7Field
“Odysseus took the moon,” said NASA administrator Bill Nelson in a pre-recorded congratulatory message. “This feat is a gigantic leap forward for all mankind.”
The mission also reaches some technical first. The main engine of the spacecraft that burns liquid metatan and liquid oxygen is the first of its kind, which is used in lunar landing. IM-1 also notes the southern landing on the moon, ever completed. Lunar landings of the Indian mission of Chandrayan-3, the first in this general region, Touched V 69 degrees southern latitudeWhat would be like land on the Earth on the Antarctic Peninsula. IM-1, however, sits more than 80 degrees of the southern latitude-moon equivalent of a deep Antarctic interior.
The built-in IM-1 tools will provide the first in situ measurements of this forbidden environment, where the extreme angle of the sun on the horizon can create huge changes in surface temperatures, as well as when exposed to the “solar wind” of charged particles, which are continuously discarded by our star. These data will include Important radio measurements This will capture some interactions of the solar wind with the surface of the moon.
NASA is aimed at the Lunar South Pole, because Some of the shadow closed regions contain water ice-Klychevo resource for long -term human stays on the moon. For the agency Artemis 3 The mission, which will be launched no earlier than in 2026, NASA entered into a contract with SpaceX to plant a team of two people near the Lunar South Pole.
“[IM-1] This is a technical demonstration, if you want, but it will receive our first data about the environment of the South Pole of the Moon. This will be crucial for the design of systems in order to allow people to survive and prosper there, ”says a scientist University of Notre Dame Lunre Clive NileField
Perhaps the largest contribution IM-1- precedent that he sets For a future exploration of space. For decades, the space was considered to be only a few state institutions. But thanks to the falls of the costs of launching and the constant march of technological progress, now for countries and private companies it is cheaper than when, to create and manage a spacecraft – and even send them to interplanetary directions.
“[IM-1 is] A fracture in commercial development in the United States, ”says Neil.
High risk, high reward
At 1:05 on the eastern post on February 15 IM-1 Runned At the top of one of the SpaceX Falcon 9 missiles from the Kennedy space center in NASA in Florida. Over the next few days, Odysseus drove a total of more than one million kilometers (621,000 miles) to insert himself into the lunar orbit, which he successfully performed on February 21. It is expected that a spaceship will work on the surface of the moon within seven days before it obeys the darkness and cruel cold of the moon.
Mission flies under the NASA banner Initiative on commercial lunar payload (CLPS)which encouraged private investments in lunar missions since its founding in 2018. In accordance with CLPS, the agency awards private companies, contract contracts for the delivery of NASA equipment and scientific tools to the surface of the moon. Until now, 14 companies have joined the program that promises to pay up to 2.6 billion dollars for delivery services until 2028.
Unlike NASA traditional programs, the space agency does not own and controls CLPS space ships – companies do this. In turn, NASA hopes to achieve lower costs and a higher level of missions. To date, NASA has paid intuitive cars in the amount of 118 million US dollars under a contract, which created IM-1, which was spent on robotic planting funds in the past. And IM-1 is the second of the five CLPS missions that can be launched this year.
Nevertheless, CLPS companies received a steep hill for lifting. Historically, only five out of every nine missions of the moon succeeded, even among the profiled state space agencies. In August 2023, the mission of the Russian Moon Luna 25 Shattered into the lunar surface after the engine deposition. In January, a Japanese lunar landing flight, known as Slim (Smart Lander for investigating the moon) Covered safely But At an unexpected anglewho limited his ability to collect solar energy.
And in exchange for lower costs and more missions, NASA received a higher risk that any CLPS mission will fail. From the very beginning of CLPS, NASA officials warned that Even 50 percent indicator of the success of the mission was acceptable for the program.
Until now, this forecast is panning. Back in January, Astrobotic, based in Pittsburgh, tried to fulfill the first mission in accordance with CLPS, the Peregrine 1 mission. Soon after the launch, however, the astrobotic spacecraft raised fuel leakage. The company managed to save the langer in space for a week and a half, But the mission ended with the fact that Pegrin burned in the atmosphere of the EarthField
“[NASA] It is expected that approximately 50 percent refusal level, and one for two is such a bet, ”says Laura Forschik, Executive Director of the Consulting Firm of the Space Industry AstraliticField “[IM-1 proves] That for commercial landing products is possible to safely land on the surface of the moon at a lower price. ”
Peregrine and IM-1 are only the first in the upcoming wave of commercial missions of the Moon with more and more ambitious goals. As soon as the Astrobotic grows to deliver Viper (volatile substances exploring the Polar Exploration Rover), a rover built by NASA to the lunar South Pole. The upcoming mission of IM-2 Intuitive Machines, also finally planned this year, will provide Prime-1 (experiment 1 useful minerals Polar Resources 1), NASA training, designed to delve into the underground place of the moon.
“These initial missions are more test missions,” says Forschik. “We want to make sure that the technology has been proven and matured before we put a useful load with higher rates.”
