Intuitive Machines is the first private company in history to land a spaceship on the moon’s surface.
At 5:23 p.m. CST, flight controllers confirmed the landing. However, the exact state of the spacecraft is still unknown as engineers work to improve their signal with the lander.
Tim Crain, mission lead and chief technology officer at Intuitive Machines, said, “We can say for sure that our equipment is on the moon’s surface and we are sending.” “Congratulations, IM team! Let’s see how far that takes us.”
Adding, “Houston, Odysseus has found its new home,”
After the landing, CEO Steve Altemus said, “What an amazing job.” “I know this was tense, but we are now on the surface and sending.” “Hello, moon.”
Even though the spacecraft’s laser range finders were broken, the landing was still successful. These devices measure important things like altitude and horizontal speed. Instead, NASA’s laser and doppler lidar sensors, which were on board the lander, were used to guide the ship to the lunar surface.
In almost 50 years, this is the first time that the US has put things on the moon. The spaceship landed just outside the edge of a crater called Malapert-A. This is the closest any lander has ever come to the south pole of the moon. Commercial companies and NASA are both very interested in the south pole. NASA has been looking at the area as a possible place to set up a permanent human presence on the moon as part of its Artemis program.
It’s a great start for Houston-based Intuitive Machines, which is one of only a few companies in the world whose main goal is to provide services on and around the moon. Along with making lunar landers, the company is also working on technologies for the moon’s power, data, and movement. The business is betting that the moon market, which is very small right now and mostly depends on NASA money, will only get bigger in the years to come.
This trip was made possible by a contract NASA gave out through its Commercial Lunar Payload Services program. The CLPS program aims to get the commercial production of landers that can bring scientific and study payloads to the moon’s surface off the ground. The whole deal for Intuitive Machines is worth a little less than $118 million.
“As of our third planned mission, we’re seeing more and more non-CLPS payloads from companies and institutions in the U.S. and abroad,” said Josh Marshall, who is in charge of communications at Intuitive Machines.
Also Read: So Much for Sending People Back to the Moon in 2024
The win by Intuitive Machines comes soon after Astrobotic, another CLPS winner, failed to land its lander on the moon. Due to a catastrophic fuel leak, that mission had to be cut short very soon after launch.
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