Odysseus, US spacecraft. returns to the Moon after half a century of parenthesis and frustration

An unmanned spacecraft from the United States successfully returned to the Moon this Thursday, after a hiatus of more than 50 years. A long wait that called into question the space power of the main technological power. “Welcome to the Moon,” said a voice from the mission control center.

It was a suspenseful return. Odyseuss, the robotic spacecraft familiarly known as ‘Odie’, initially landed at 6:24 p.m. (US east coast). It was expected that communication would be lost for a minute, but more than ten had passed and there was no news from the ship.

Anything could have happened. The controllers analyzed the data to see if there was a communication error or the module had crashed. Tim Craig, the technological chief of the operation, said: “We are not dead yet.”

It was soon confirmed that, with a delay of 13 minutes, Odysseus were at their destination. “Our team is on the surface, congratulations to the entire team,” said the voice from the control center. There was a burst of applause. The ship was on the Moon and was operational, but it was not clear if it could achieve its objectives. On the approach they already had to fix a malfunction in the navigation system.

Since 1972 there have been so many scientific advances that it has even changed the way of living and coexisting.

There are police robots, driverless electric cars, unmanned aircraft (the so-called drones), which still come to the rescue of lost hikers bombing in Afghanistan manipulated from the Nevada desert, smart mobile phones that know everything about their users (a thorn in your pocket), emails, social networks, GPS that allows you to locate any corner of the world, artificial intelligence capable of competing with human intelligence, the moneyless and instantaneous remote payment system. In short, the list would be very long.

However, the United States, the nation that has fostered and leads this technological revolution and that put the first man on the Moon in July 1969, had not managed to return to the Earth’s satellite since December 1972, with the Apollo 12 mission. , while other countries did achieve it.

Until this Thursday, when Odyseuss landed on the moon without crashing on a plain outside the Malapert A crater, about 300 kilometers from the south pole of the lunar surface. The IM-1 mission focuses on that area, a region of perpetual darkness and very interesting as frozen water has been detected. That ice could be used in the future by astronauts for drinking, oxygen and even fuel for space vehicles.

This is the first private commercial company to reach this milestone. The ship belongs to Intuitive Machines, a company based in Houston (Texas). NASA, the federal space agency, has not participated in the construction of ‘Odie’ and is not directly involved in managing the flight. But it contributed $118 million for this firm’s project to carry a set of scientific instruments that can help in future missions with astronauts from the federal space agency.

Other ships attempted to land on the moon, without success. Recently, landers from private missions from Japan and Israel impacted the lunar surface. The ship of another US company (Astrobotic) suffered a breakdown on its route and burned up in the Earth’s atmosphere.

The moon landing program varied. Initially it was scheduled for 5:30 in the afternoon. Then it was assured that the process had been accelerated and progress was made at 4:24. But it was delayed again at 6.24. The controllers decided to make it go around the Moon one more time.

The reason was not explained, but a while later it was explained that the laser that was supposed to guide the descent was not working properly. The two-hour delay in orbit allowed the software to be reloaded to equip the ship with an instrument provided by NASA. Initially this instrument was to be experimental, not operational, but in the end it turned out to be a very useful backup.

After 6 in the afternoon, the descent process began, which could be followed thanks to a streaming broadcast from the control center in Texas. A process of more than eleven minutes was required to reach the goal, described (again) as historic, a period in which images of the moon landing simulation were offered. Everything seemed to be going well on the lander from that simulation. But later existential doubt arose and the fear of delving into frustration.

Odysseus is a hexagonal cylinder with six landing legs 4.3 meters high and 1.5 meters wide. It transports cargo for NASA and other clients, including sculptures by artist Jeff Koons.

The takeoff took place on the 15th from Florida, aboard a Falcon 9 rocket from the company Space X, owned by Elon Musk. On Wednesday I entered orbit around the Moon.

When Odyssesu were about 30 meters from the landing he threw a small box. That box was an EagleCam, a camera system that, as it falls, will take and offer images of the moon landing on the surface, which would be a kind of selfie. The Moon is closer again for the United States and its pride.