A Private US Company Will Make An Attempt To Land On The South Pole of the Moon - Odysseus

We have another attempt to land on the South Pole of the Moon in the works, with a landing scheduled for February 22nd.

Private Odysseus moon lander beams home 1st photos from space

"Intuitive Machines successfully transmitted its first IM-1 mission images to Earth on February 16, 2024. The images were captured shortly after separation from @SpaceX's second stage on Intuitive Machines' first journey to the moon under @NASA's CLPS initiative," the Houston-based company wrote Saturday (Feb. 17) in a post on X that shared four of the photos.

CLPS is the Commercial Lunar Payload Services program, which puts agency science instruments on private robotic moon landers like Odysseus. These instruments are designed to collect data that will aid NASA's Artemis program, which aims to establish a crewed base near the lunar south pole by the end of the 2020s.

Odysseus is carrying six NASA experiments and technology demonstrations, along with six private payloads, on its current IM-1 mission.

Things have been going better for Odysseus. The lander is healthy and communicating with mission control as it heads toward the moon for a planned Feb. 22 touchdown attempt, Intuitive Machines has said.

Success on the upcoming landing try would be historic; no private spacecraft has ever touched down softly on the moon.

It's been 50 years since a man has been on the moon. Shouldn't there be a Moon base by now?

www.cnet.com...

a reply to: IndieA

Why do I have a Sneaking Suspicion that this Mission could End in Failure ? The Moon is a Harsh Mistress ....

send bezos zuckerburg, clinton, obama, and the decendants of that submarine and i will care. abandoning ship practice for the rich and elite.

a reply to: IndieA

Looking at the photo it sent back, umm...what planet is that? Is that Australia or Africa? There's only one continent visible from space? Why does the image seem cut off on the right side?

That photo is highly dubious. IMO.

ETA: Indeed that's Australia, and only Australia though? I'm calling BS. It launched from Florida and the first photo is a sole shot of Australia? This shot is cropped, badly. Are they serious?

I thought the Moon was hollow....and the current inhabitants put up a "NO Trespassing" sign.

originally posted by: AnrkE17
send bezos zuckerburg, clinton, obama, and the decendants of that submarine and i will care. abandoning ship practice for the rich and elite.

Do really want to give the people you mistrust and detest the most the "High Ground Advantage over you?


Very unwise from a strategic standpoint.

a reply to: VariedcodeSole

You didn't realize Australia took up half of the planet?

Just what we need, more CGI pictures of Earth to accompany all the others on Google.

a reply to: IndieA

I guess they finally figured out the Van Allen belt radiation issue? You know where the heat is so hot it would melt through a space ship, but somehow aluminum and foil have no problems.

the grays arent gonna like that

I'm curious, does this moon lander have a selfie stick or did it ask a passing UFO to snap a shot?

originally posted by: TheLieWeLive
a reply to: IndieA

I guess they finally figured out the Van Allen belt radiation issue? You know where the heat is so hot it would melt through a space ship, but somehow aluminum and foil have no problems.

Heat generally requires an atmosphere to transfer from a source to a body (such as a spacecraft) by convection. No atmosphere, no convection. No convection, no heat.


There is precious little atmosphere at the altitude of the Van Allen belts.


Heat can also be transferred by radiation, even in the absence of an atmosphere, but the process is much slower. This is why spacecraft on longer flights often require rather large radiators to maintain a liveable environment for their crews.


Time is also a mitigating factor. For example, you can quickly pass your unprotected finger through the hottest part of a candle flame in relative safety, where holding your finger in the flame will result in a serious burn.

Spacecraft are designed to fly through the Van Allen belts on the shortest, quickest, path, thus limiting their exposure.

a reply to: TheLieWeLive

Holy crappy cgi pic and it even includes stars!

Seriously, how big could they make Australia? Or did they use AI and it messed up Africa.

originally posted by: TheLieWeLive
I guess they finally figured out the Van Allen belt radiation issue? You know where the heat is so hot it would melt through a space ship, but somehow aluminum and foil have no problems.

Heat has never been a problem in the Van Allen radiation belt.

a reply to: TheLieWeLive

Or they have a camera with a fisheye lens.

originally posted by: lilzazz
It's been 50 years since a man has been on the moon. Shouldn't there be a Moon base by now?

www.cnet.com...

Honestly I believe there is. It would have been stupid of the US and even Russia or China not to do one. Thing is I am not a radio guy enough to see if there are any kind of transmissions.

originally posted by: Therealbeverage

originally posted by: lilzazz
It's been 50 years since a man has been on the moon. Shouldn't there be a Moon base by now?

www.cnet.com...

Honestly I believe there is. It would have been stupid of the US and even Russia or China not to do one. Thing is I am not a radio guy enough to see if there are any kind of transmissions.

You might not be, but others are.


Do you really believe if there were radio transmissions from some "secret base on the Moon" that somebody would not had blasted it out to the entire World?


Most likely would have caused the greatest "Aliens have Moon Base!" flap ever seen.

*Latest Update:

IM-1 MISSION UPDATES

Odysseus completed its scheduled 408-second main engine lunar orbit insertion burn and is currently in a 92 km circular lunar orbit. Initial data indicates the 800 m/s burn was completed within 2 m/s accuracy. ​

Odysseus continues to be in excellent health. We expect to continue to provide mission updates at least once a day on X and the IM-1 Mission web page, where we intend to host a live stream for landing coverage.

The landing attempt is scheduled for tomorrow:

Intuitive Machines expects to land on the Moon at 1649 CST on Thursday, February 22nd.

Source (X)