🌚 A private company successfully lands on the moon for the first time

• Intuitive Machines has successfully soft-landed a robotic lander on the moon.
• The last time an American spacecraft landed on the moon was in 1972.
• This is the first time a private company has managed to land on the moon without crashing.

A new era for moon exploration

The American return to the moon has been conducted by Houston-based Intuitive Machines, writes Space.com. Their robotic lander Odysseus has soft-landed near the moon's south pole.

This is the first time a private company has achieved such a feat, and the first American soft landing since NASA's Apollo 17 mission in 1972.

Historical background and future ambitions

During the 1960s and early 1970s, the moon was a frequent target for American spacecraft, driven by both scientific curiosity and national security during the Cold War.

After the successes of the Apollo missions, which placed 12 astronauts on the moon, NASA's focus shifted to other objectives, including the Space Shuttle program.

Recently, however, the ambition to return to the moon has been revived, primarily through the Artemis program, which aims to establish a long-term and sustainable human presence on and around the moon.

The CLPS program and its role

To prepare for manned missions, NASA established the CLPS program ("Commercial Lunar Payload Services"), which aims to send scientific instruments to the moon via private companies' landers.

Intuitive Machines was selected in 2019 to deliver some of NASA's scientific instruments to the moon's surface with their Nova-C lander, named Odysseus.

The instruments, designed for a range of investigations, included technology to collect data during descent and landing, study the interaction between the spacecraft's exhaust gases and the moon's surface, and demonstrate autonomous positioning technology.

The historic landing

Odysseus was sent to the moon aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and successfully soft-landed near Malapert A crater. This landing is not just a technical success but also the beginning of a new phase in moon exploration, where agencies like NASA buy a transport service instead of a lander.

With the ever-decreasing costs of launching rockets, we will be able to do much more in space, both commercially and governmentally.

🚀 A new era: Before and after Starship

Not only is a new space age being initiated, but possibly a new era for humanity.

Warp NewsMathias Sundin

Update

The moon lander tipped over, but seems to be working anyway.

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News tips: Thomas Ahlström