The United States Returned To The Moon After 52 Years: The Private Nova-C Module Communicated From The Surface Of The Satellite
Machines made a successful soft landing on the lunar surface, NASA announced.
This is the first time an American spacecraft has landed on Earth’s natural satellite in more than 50 years, and also the first time it has been carried out by a private company.
The device landed on Thursday at 18:24 US East Coast time in the area of the Malapert A crater, 300 km from the South Pole of the Moon.
The descent to the surface was somewhat complicated. The landing had to be delayed by one orbit around the Moon. The lidars of the lander created by the company showed incorrect operation. I had to download a software patch and use NASA Doppler lidars. Ground tracking stations picked up the signal from the surface of the Moon only 15 minutes later than was expected.
The mission, whose cost is estimated at $118 million, is carried out under a NASA contract with Intuitive Machines for the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program.
As a payload, the interplanetary station weighing 657 kg carries six NASA research instruments designed to study the environment in the landing zone, radio astronomy, develop precision landing technology, communications and autonomous navigation. A cubesat was launched from the station into lunar orbit to test communications between its surface and the Earth through this small satellite. Odysseus also carries six commercial cargo for various clients.
Intuitive Machines plans to send a second lander to the Moon in March, and a third in June
