The initial CLPS mission revolved around the Peregrine Moon lander, a technological development by private company Astrobotic. Its purpose was to transport a series of instruments to the lunar surface in order to gather data on various aspects such as lunar radiation, soil composition, surface temperature, and the presence of water.
Unfortunately, a fuel system issue arose shortly after take-off, leading to the demise of the mission and the eventual destruction of the Peregrine as it reentered Earth’s atmosphere.
With the second mission of the CLPS program, the IM-1, we all hope to avoid a similar fate. This mission is led by private company Intuitive Machines and also focuses on a lunar lander equipped with a multitude of scientific instruments.
The specific lander utilized for this inaugural flight is named Odysseus, after the renowned Greek king of Ithaca, a beloved character in ancient Greek poetry by Homer.
Standing at a height of 14 feet (4.3 meters) and weighing 1,488 pounds (675 kg), this medium-sized lander has a cargo capacity of 286 pounds (130 kg), which is more than sufficient to deliver the necessary scientific equipment to the Moon.
Among the cargo on board are six privately developed pieces of technology, each of equal significance to their respective creators, with some even holding potential implications for the advancement of our species.
Columbia Sportswear is participating in this lunar mission by utilizing their Omni-Heat Infinity thermal reflective insulation, typically used in their clothing, to protect the Odysseus lander from the extreme temperatures on the Moon. This will also provide Columbia with valuable insights into the performance of their technology in space.
Renowned American artist Jeff Koons is also represented on this mission through an art installation known as the Moon Phases. This collection consists of 125 unique stainless steel balls arranged in a cube, each dedicated to individuals who have made significant contributions to human history.
The International Lunar Observatory Association will be launching the ILO-X on the Odysseus. This suite of instruments includes a dual camera that will capture the first images of the galaxy’s center as observed from the lunar surface.
Galactic Legacy Labs, in collaboration with the Arch Mission Foundation, aims to establish a lunar repository of human knowledge and history. As part of their mission, they will be sending Lunagrams, which are essentially private texts, images, music videos, and other video files stored alongside “cultural archive datasets.”
Additionally, Lonestar, a provider of data storage solutions, will be demonstrating their technology for secure premium data storage and edge processing during this mission.
A project from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University is set to steal the spotlight from the Intuitive Machines lunar landing in terms of commercial payloads. The university’s team has developed a camera system named EagleCam that aims to capture the first-ever third-person image of a spacecraft landing on an extraterrestrial surface. The camera will detach from the lander when it reaches a height of 100 feet above the Moon’s surface and transmit images of the landing back to Earth.
The commercial payloads will be joined by six other NASA-supported experiments, including the Lunar Node-1, which addresses the challenges of lunar navigation in the harsh environment. All of these payloads will coexist in the same space during the mission.
Scheduled to launch on Valentine’s Day 2024 at 12:57 AM EST from the Kennedy Space Center, the Odysseus lander will be carried into space by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The journey to the Moon will take approximately nine days. The landing site is located in a region called Malapert A, near the Moon’s south pole and close to the Malapert Massif. This site, along with 12 others, is being considered for the Artemis III astronaut mission.
If successful, the Odysseus lander will be the first American Moon lander since the Apollo program ended in 1972 to achieve a soft touchdown on the lunar surface. The mission’s duration on the Moon is expected to be only seven days, as the onset of the lunar night will render the lander inoperable.
According to the Source autoevolution.com