The privately owned Odyssey lander is headed to the Moon to become the first such vehicle to successfully land on the Moon.
If everything goes as planned, the first landing module created by a private company will make a soft landing on the Moon on February 22. The Odyssey spacecraft is heading towards Earth’s moon after being launched into space on February 15. Intuitive Machines, the company that created the module, shared the first photos of the device, taken shortly after separating from the second stage of the SpaceX Falcon 9 launch vehicle, Space wrote.
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Four spectacular photographs were taken by the Odyssey descent module, in which both the device and the Earth are visible against the background of the darkness of space. This module was launched to the Moon as part of Intuitive Machines’ IM-1 mission. If all goes as planned, this device will successfully land on the Moon on February 22, making it the first private landing to do so in history. A successful landing would also mark the United States’ return to the Moon for the first time since 1972.
The Odyssey module carries a suite of scientific instruments from NASA to the Moon that should collect important data needed to prepare for the landing of astronauts on the Moon within 2 years and the construction of the first lunar base.
This is not the first attempt by Americans to successfully land a private vehicle on the Moon. The Peregrine lander, the precursor to the Odyssey module created by Astrobotic, failed to complete its mission in January and returned to Earth under the guidance of scientists, where it was destroyed in the atmosphere. The truth is that Peregrine developed a problem with its engine shortly after entering space.
However, the Odyssey module experienced no problems and is operating normally and maintaining contact with Earth. All module instruments work well, and this also applies to its engine, which has been successfully tested in space.
The Odyssey lander is powered by a liquid methane and liquid oxygen engine, the first propulsion system flown in space. Mission controllers started the engine to make sure it was ready to land on the Moon. As mentioned above, no private lander has been able to land successfully on the lunar surface to date, and therefore the landing date will be February 22.
Meanwhile, SpaceX’s giant Starship rocket system is equipped with an engine powered by liquid methane and liquid oxygen. This mega-rocket was designed to deliver humans to the Moon and Mars, and is now preparing for its third test flight because the previous two ended in disaster. The new Starship flight is planned to take place at the end of February.
As I already wrote FocusDevelopers of an innovative satellite with a quantum engine lost contact with it and were never able to test the operation of the propulsion system, which violated the laws of physics.
Moreover Focus He wrote that scientists from NASA received the largest asteroid sample ever sent to Earth.
Source: Focus
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