IM-1 Tracker.

[martin-w]

If the landing is a success the Intuitive Machines IM-1 lander will be conducting a number of technology tests in preparation for our return to the Moon.

 

[Fielder]

[martin-w]

In orbit. Landing is expected at 16:49 CST. 

[martin-w]

 

[charliearon]

Looks like the Iggle has landed!  It sent out a few squeaks about 5 minutes after landing! 

[Fielder]

4:24 "he he , if we can find that water, we can live off of that water"

 

Edited February 23, 2024 by Fielder

[martin-w]

8 hours ago, Fielder said:

4:24 "he he , if we can find that water, we can live off of that water"

 

Well we know lots of water is there, in crater shadows. Was that one of the objectives, to sniff out water, hadn't heard that. 

[Christopher Low]

Over 50 years after landing twelve men on the Moon, NASA have pushed the boat out once again, and.....er.......landed a small tub on the Moon.

Congratulations, I guess

[martin-w]

Its a fancy  small tub though, Chris. It does lots of clever things. 👍

[martin-w]

9 minutes ago, Christopher Low said:

.landed a small tub

 

Actually, apparently its not that small. I was surprised to find its 13 feet tall and 5 fret wide. 😲

 

Quote

The Odysseus Lander is a hexagonal cylinder, 4.0 meters tall and 1.57 meters wide, on 6 landing legs with a launch mass of 1908 kg. It is capable of carrying approximately 100 kg of payload to the surface. It uses solar panels to generate 200 W of power on the surface, using a 25 amp-hr battery and a 28 VDC system. Propulsion and landing use liquid methane as fuel and liquid oxygen as an oxidizer powering a 3100 N main engine mounted on the bottom of the lander. Communications are via S-band. The scientific payload includes the Laser Retro-Reflector Array (LRA), Navigation Doppler Lidar for Precise Velocity and Range Sensing (NDL), Lunar Node 1 Navigation Demonstrator (LN-1), Stereo Cameras for Lunar Plume-Surface Studies (SCALPSS), and Radio wave Observation at the Lunar Surface of the photoElectron Sheath (ROLSES). In total there are five NASA and four commercial payloads planned.

 

[martin-w]

It seems the lander is lying on its side, propped up on a rock.

And the reason the LIDAR wouldn't work is because engineers at the Kenedy space centre forgot to turn off the "eye safe" switch on the lasers. 🤔

Edited February 24, 2024 by martin-w

[LHookins]

9 hours ago, martin-w said:

forgot to turn off the "eye safe" switch on the lasers.

"With your remaining eye, do NOT look back into the laser."

Hook

[kangoat]

11 hours ago, martin-w said:

It seems the lander is lying on its side, propped up on a rock.

Sounds fine to me. Don't know about anyone else, but it can be nice to lay down and take a nap after a long flight.

[dmwalker]

The IM-1 Odysseus landed at or near the Malapert A Crater, which is interesting because the site of Moonbase Alpha in Space 1999 was Malapert Crater, a little further south. I wonder why Arthur C. Clarke chose Clavius Crater for the moon base in 2001 A Space Odyssey.

"Moonbase Alpha is constructed in the crater Malapert near the lunar south pole. The location was chosen for several features. It is on the near side of the Moon, so Earth is always directly visible. Parts are exposed to permanent sunlight, vital for solar power. The southern ridge (Malapert Mountain) has a face that is in the radio shadow of Earth, so was chosen as an ideal site for a radio telescope. Beneath the crater floor are the "catacombs". These are networks of tunnels and caverns formed in the Plato aquifer, a very fractured basalt cauldron subsidence structure. It is sealed within ring dykes and capped by a lava sheet over the caldera floor. A large batholith below fed in juvenile water through peripheral conduits. The water spread laterally from the conduits, excavating the faults into caves. Metamorphism, both pneumatolysis and hydrothermal processes, created a very rich mineralogy. This was therefore the obvious site to construct Moonbase Alpha, the catacombs forming the basis of the lower levels of the base while the water reservoirs were tapped and the minerals mined."

https://catacombs.space1999.net/main/maog/maog4.html

Edited February 24, 2024 by dmwalker

[n4gix]

6 hours ago, goates said:

Sounds fine to me. Don't know about anyone else, but it can be nice to lay down and take a nap after a long flight.

The poor dear was exhausted from such a long flight. It has to rest for awhile.