SpaceX launches Odysseus moon lander with NASA payload Intuitive Machines 1 Mission IM1 Watch

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Intuitive Machines 1 Mission: SpaceX launched Odysseus, a moon lander built by Texas-based aerospace firm Intuitive Machines, on Feb. 15, 2024, atop a Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39-A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Lift-off occurred at 11:35 am IST. Odysseus, also known as Nova-C, carries five NASA payloads and commercial cargo. The purpose of the mission, called the Intuitive Machines 1 mission, is to land Odysseus on the crater Malapert A near the moon’s south pole.

NASA selected Intuitive Machines to build a lander as part of the space agency’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative (CLPS), in which a commercial firm receives a contract.

A video shared on SpaceX’s official X (formerly Twitter) account shows a Falcon 9 rocket deploying the Odysseus lander into space.

This was the 18th flight of the Falcon 9 rocket’s first stage booster.

More information about the Intuitive Machines 1 mission

The payload will study the interaction between the moon’s surface and plumes, which are clouds of gas. They will also conduct radio astronomy experiments and study how the Moon’s surface interacts with space weather.

Odysseus will also demonstrate precision landing technologies, and demonstrate communications and navigation mode capabilities.

First, Odysseus will be placed in an Earth orbit of size 185 kilometers by 60,000 kilometers. After this there will be translunar injection. Next, a maneuver will place Odysseus into a 100-kilometer lunar orbit.

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Odysseus is expected to land in Malapert A crater on February 22. Its mission life will be 14 Earth days in the presence of sunlight.

Odysseus is four meters long, 1.57 meters wide and weighs 1,908 kilograms. With six erect legs, Odysseus is capable of carrying up to 100 kilograms of payload to the lunar surface.

The lander is equipped with solar panels that will allow it to generate 200 watts of electricity on the lunar surface.

The main engine located at the bottom of Odysseus requires 3,100 Newtons of force to start before landing on the Moon. It uses liquid methane as fuel and liquid oxygen as an oxidizer.

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