For the first time in more than 50 years, the United States has returned to the surface of the Moon today, with the successful landing of Intuitive Machines’ uncrewed spacecraft Odysseus; the historic landing occurred at 6:23 pm ET today. In addition to returning America to the Moon’s surface, Intuitive Machines has become the first private company to complete a lunar landing.
After a successful launch on a Space-X rocket from Florida on February 15, the lunar lander with six NASA science instruments and technology demonstrations on-board headed on its journey to the moon in the time since launch. Known as the IM-1 mission, this journey is part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative. IM-1 is one of many NASA-funded , uncrewed commercial missions designed to pave the way for astronaut missions expected in the coming years through NASA’s Artemis program.
The Artemis program is named after Greek mythology; Artemis was the daughter of Leto and Zeus, and the twin of Apollo. She is the goddess of the wilderness, the hunt and wild animals, and fertility; Artemis is also considered as one of the helpers of midwives as a goddess of birth. The original Moon landing project in the 1960s and 1970s was known as the “Apollo Mission” and this follow-up mission is expected to return astronauts to the Moon’s surface in the coming years. According to NASA’s plan, the crewed Artemis 2 launch will take place in late 2025, the Artemis 3 crewed lunar landing will occur sometime in 2026, the Artemis 4 docking with the Lunar Gateway in 2028, and future yearly landings on the Moon thereafter.
Intuitive Machines’ Odysseus successfully transmitted its first images back to Earth on February 16. These were captured shortly after separation from SpaceX’s second stage. Within an hour of launching, NASA confirmed data was streaming from the agency’s powered science and technology instruments aboard the flight.
NASA and Intuitive Machines confirmed Odysseus made a successful landing near the Moon’s South Pole.
NASA selected the South Pole region on the Moon as its target for future crewed missions. “Extreme, contrasting conditions make it a challenging location for Earthlings to land, live, and work, but the region’s unique characteristics hold promise for unprecedented deep space scientific discoveries, ” NASA said in a statement about Artemis. Scientists believe the South Pole region hosts water in the form of ice; in addition to drink, water can act as a coolant for equipment and could be developed into rocket fuel for missions leaving the Moon.
At the lunar south pole, only elevated peaks are lit by the sun. Because the sun is always positioned around the horizon due to the moon’s tilt, extreme low temperatures can be experienced here, with temperatures dropping to as low as -418 degrees Fahrenheit. At those temperatures, any water molecules that enter the area are immediately frozen and unable to evaporate. NASA scientists believe water content then falls to the surface, where it gets mixed with lunar soil, creating large pockets of ice and soil at the south pole.
