By successfully landing its Nova-C lander, called Odysseus, on the Moon, the American company Intuitive Machines, on the night of February 22 to 23, checked three symbols. First of all, it marked the return of the United States to our natural satellite after more than half a century of absence. The last time a machine made in USA had sunk its metal legs into the lunar regolith in fact dates back to 1972 with the Apollo-16 (in April of that year) and Apollo-17 (in December) missions.
Even as delays accumulate for the Artemis program through which NASA intends to send humans back to the Moon, while new players – China, India, Japan – have entered the exclusive club of countries capable of landing on the night star, it was time for the United States to show that they remained in the race.
The second symbol is to be found in the identity of the operator. In the list of successful moon landings, that of Odysseus is the first signed by a private company. What’s more, by a young company because Intuitive Machines was only founded in 2013. Others before it had tried their luck and failed, the latest being the American Astrobiotic Technology whose Peregrine mission aborted in January due to a fuel leak shortly after takeoff.
It should be noted, however, that the Odysseus and Peregrine landers, while being designed and controlled by private companies, remain in a certain way under the aegis of NASA because their funding comes from the CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) program of NASA. American space agency. It has in fact decided to subcontract robotic missions to the Moon to a booming private sector, just as it has entrusted Elon Musk’s company SpaceX with the transport of its astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS). ). A way to both save money and stimulate “New Space” players. Note in passing that Odysseus left Earth on February 15 aboard a SpaceX Falcon-9 rocket. For this mission, Intuitive Machines received $118 million from NASA under CLPS.
The Malapert-A crater, a new El Dorado for space agencies
The third and final symbol of this landing is due to the location chosen: Odysseus, which looks like a container standing on six legs, landed 300 kilometers from the lunar South Pole, in the Malapert-A crater.
This polar region has become the new El Dorado for space agencies, due to the reserves of water ice contained in its soil. If it could be exploited, this water would be valuable for life in future bases but also to provide hydrogen and oxygen which would power the engines of machines taking off from the Moon again after refueling. The Intuitive Machines device is the second to set foot in the region, after the Indian Chandrayaan-3 probe, in 2023.
Even if the symbols prove strong, Odysseus’ mission will only have modest ambitions on the ground, quite simply because it will only last seven days. On a scientific level, the few on-board instruments will mainly study the near environment of the craft and the effect that the landing had on the ground. Beyond this week of activity, the lunar night and its more than freezing temperatures should get the better of the machine.