NYREADERS.COM - It is an order well-delivered. A private and listed company Intuitive Machines made history on Feb. 22, 2024, after its Nova-C lander, called Odysseus, completed a seven-day journey to lunar orbit and softly landed near crater Malapert A in the South Pole region of the Moon at 6:24 p.m. EST.
Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C lander was launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Feb. 15 and took seven days to land on the moon’s south pole.
Intuitive Machines said the Odysseus lander carried 12 government and commercial payloads. Six of which are for NASA under a $118 million contract through the agency’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services, or CLPS, initiative.
The Nova-C lander mission was the first of contracts to be delivered by Intuitive Machines. The company said it has already won two more CLPS contracts to be delivered by lander mission, IM-2, as early as the second half of this year.
The NASA payloads onboard the lander aim to help the agency develop capabilities needed to explore the Moon under Artemis and in advance of human missions on the lunar surface.
NASA science aboard the lander includes:
- Lunar Node 1 Navigation Demonstrator
This is a small, CubeSat-sized experiment that will demonstrate autonomous navigation that could be used by future landers, surface infrastructure, and astronauts, digitally confirming their positions on the Moon relative to other spacecraft, ground stations, or rovers on the move.
- Laser Retroreflector Array.
This is a collection of eight retroreflectors that enable precision laser ranging, which is a measurement of the distance between the orbiting or landing spacecraft to the reflector on the lander.
- Navigation Doppler Lidar for Precise Velocity and Range Sensing.
The equipment is a Lidar-based (Light Detection and Ranging) guidance system for descent and landing. This instrument operates on the same principles of radar but uses pulses from a laser emitted through three optical telescopes. It will measure speed, direction, and altitude with high precision during descent and touchdown.
- Radio Frequency Mass Gauge.
This is a technology demonstration that measures the amount of propellant in spacecraft tanks in a low-gravity space environment. Using sensor technology, the gauge will measure the amount of cryogenic propellant in Nova-C’s fuel and oxidizer tanks, providing data that could help predict fuel usage on future missions.
- Radio-wave observations at the Lunar Surface of the Photoelectron Sheath.
The instrument will observe the Moon’s surface environment in radio frequencies, to determine how natural and human-generated activity near the surface interacts with and could interfere with science conducted there.
- Stereo Cameras for Lunar Plume-Surface Studies
This is a suite of four tiny cameras to capture imagery showing how the Moon’s surface changes from interactions with the spacecraft’s engine plume during and after descent.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said these deliveries are part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative and Artemis campaign. The campaign aims, among others, to better understand planetary processes and evolution, search for evidence of water and other resources, and support long-term human exploration.
“NASA scientific instruments are on their way to the Moon – a giant leap for humanity as we prepare to return to the lunar surface for the first time in more than half a century,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson.