The Odysseus module of the private company Intuitive Machines took off this Thursday from Florida bound for the Moon, in what is expected to be the first private moon landing in history and the first from the United States in more than fifty years since Apollo 17. After several failed attempts, the launch of the IM-1 mission took place at the scheduled time, 1:05 in the morning (6:05 GMT), and it is expected to land on the lunar surface next Thursday, February 22. The takeoff had been postponed again for 24 hours, from early Wednesday morning to today, due to anomalies during the methane loading process.
The module, which carries NASA instruments, seeks to make the first “soft” landing by an American company on the lunar surface, according to the Texas-based company Intuitive Machines. The main objective of this mission is to bring scientific instruments and technological demonstrations to the south pole of the Moon, a region that remains unexplored.
Odysseus travels aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket that took off safely from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in central Florida. Once in orbit, this Nova-C series lander, equipped with a propulsion system powered by an environmentally friendly mixture of oxygen and methane, both liquids, separated from the rocket to head towards the Moon. After landing, the idea is that operations there will extend for about seven days before lunar night arrives at the south pole, leaving Odysseus inoperable.
Specifically, the landing will be in the vicinity of the Malapert massif, about 300 kilometers from the south pole of the Moon, an area full of “uncertainty,” according to NASA experts. Researchers believe the area is composed of lunar highland material, similar to the Apollo 16 landing site.
This is the second mission of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative, after Peregrine, and is also part of the Artemis return to the Moon program. Last January, the Peregrine module, from the company Astrobotic Technology, failed in its attempt to land on the Moon with NASA and other commercial loads due to fuel supply problems, among others.
According to Intuitive Machines, the mission seeks to create an economical platform that will carry NASA scientific instruments to the Moon, as well as commercial cargo, to pave the way for a sustainable human presence on that natural satellite and its surroundings. The landing site is one of 13 regions NASA is considering for the Artemis III mission, which will be that program’s first crewed moon landing mission and the first crewed flight of SpaceX’s Starship HLS lander.
Among the NASA instruments carried by Odysseus is the RFMG, which provides a significantly more precise measurement of the fill level of a fuel tank, a crucial issue in future long-duration missions. It also has an instrument, SCALPSS, with four cameras to capture sound and still images of the dust plume created by the lander’s engine as it begins its descent to the lunar surface until it shuts down.
NASA is also sending four antennas and a low-frequency radio receiver system designed to study the dynamic energy environment near the lunar surface and determine how natural and human-generated activity near the surface interacts with scientific research. This instrument, known as ROLSES, will also detect radio emissions from the Sun, Jupiter and Earth, as well as dust impacting the surface of the Moon.
The NDL is added to the team, a descent and landing sensor based on light detection and range. This instrument works on the same principles as radar, but uses pulses from a laser emitted through three optical telescopes. The instrument will measure the speed and direction of the vehicle and the distance to the surface with high precision during descent to landing.
Likewise, it has a collection of eight retroreflectors (LRA) that allow precision laser ranging, which is a measure of the distance between an orbiting or landing spacecraft and the lander’s reflector. The LRA is a passive optical instrument and will serve as a permanent location marker on the Moon for decades to come.
Finally, LN-1 is a small CubeSat-sized flight hardware experiment that integrates navigation and communication functions for autonomous navigation to support future orbital and surface operations. Intuitive Machines has highlighted that IM-1 represents a crucial moment in the participation of private companies in the space race.
According to the company, the IM-1 mission also represents a monumental milestone in lunar exploration, reviving human interest in the Moon after decades of hiatus. The success of the IM-1 mission “will lay the foundation for a prosperous lunar economy, opening up new possibilities for research, commerce and exploration, and bringing closer humanity’s dream of becoming a multiplanetary species,” he said.
