The IM-1 lander “Odysseus” in lunar orbit on Feb. 21, 2024.
Intuitive Machines
A U.S. company has gone to the moon – and into the history books.
Intuitive Machines IM-1 mission reached the moon’s surface on Thursday evening, in the primary American lunar landing because the Apollo era.
The corporate’s Nova-C cargo lander, named “Odysseus” after the mythological Greek hero, is the primary U.S. spacecraft to land on the lunar surface since 1972. Adding to the feat, Intuitive Machines is the primary company to drag off a moon landing — government agencies have carried out all previously successful missions.
“We’re on the surface and we’re transmitting. Welcome to the moon,” Intuitive Machines’ CEO Steve Altemus said from mission control.
There was a delay, as expected, between the landing and when engineers were in a position to assess its success.
A couple of minutes after the expected landing time, Intuitive Machines’ mission control was still attempting to reconnect communications with the spacecraft to verify whether it landed. The corporate’s mission control ultimately picked up a signal and announced its lander was on the surface.
“What we will confirm, indubitably, is that our equipment is on the surface of the moon and we’re transmitting. So congratulations, IM-1,” Tim Crain, Intuitive Machines’ CTO and IM-1 mission director, said.
“Odysseus has found his recent home,” Crain added.
Two hours after the landing, Intuitive Machines said in a press release that “flight controllers have confirmed Odysseus is upright and beginning to send data.”
The corporate’s stock surged in prolonged trading Thursday, after falling 11% in regular trading to shut at $8.28 a share.
Intuitive Machines, a Houston, Texas-based company founded in 2013, went public a yr ago. After shares hit an all-time low in early January, the stock has surged and greater than tripled – a rally that Wall Street analysts describe as fueled by investor excitement across the IM-1 mission’s progress.
Odysseus’ journey
The lander began a series of maneuvers about one hour before touching down, starting with “Descent Orbit Insertion.
An illustration of the IM-1 mission, with milestones from launch to landing.
Intuitive Machines
IM-1 landed within the “Malapert A” crater, about 300 kilometers from the moon’s south pole. After landing, Intuitive Machines goals to operate Odysseus on the surface for as much as seven days.
Intuitive Machines and NASA leaders showcase a mockup of the corporate’s Nova-C lunar lander during a presentation on May 31, 2019.
Aubrey Gemignani / NASA
The hexagonal lander is 4.3 meters (or about 14 feet) tall, and its legs spread 4.6 meters (or about 15 feet) wide, making the spacecraft in regards to the size of an SUV stood on its end.
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NASA leadership emphasized before the launch that “IM-1 is an Intuitive Machines’ mission, it is not a NASA mission.” IM-1 marks the second mission under NASA’s Business Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative, which goals to deliver science projects and cargo to the moon with increasing regularity in support of the agency’s Artemis crew program.
“Today, for the primary time in greater than a half century, the U.S. has returned to the moon. Today, for the primary time within the history of humanity, a business company and an American company launched and led the voyage up there,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said on the livestream
Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C lunar lander on display at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center.
NASA
Lunar geopolitics
IM-1 can also be the newest move in a broader geopolitical race to the moon. While Intuitive Machines represents the newest American effort, other nations – each U.S. rivals and allies – are pouring money into lunar programs.
Last month, Japan became the fifth country to land on the moon, following Russia, the U.S., China and India.
Governments and personal firms alike have made greater than 50 attempts to land on the moon with mixed success because the first attempts within the early Nineteen Sixties, and the track record has remained shaky even on this century. But that is not deterring the fashionable moon race that is now well underway.
NASA expects U.S. firms to launch additional missions this yr, while China plans to launch its next lunar lander in May.
