A private U.S. lunar lander touched down on the moon Thursday, but contact with the craft was weak, company officials said.
There were no immediate updates on the lander’s condition from the company, Intuitive Machines.
Tension mounted in the company’s command center in Houston, as controllers awaited a signal from the spacecraft some 250,000 miles (400,000 kilometers) away, which arrived about 10 minutes later.
“We’re evaluating how we can refine that signal,” said mission director Tim Crain. “But we can confirm, without a doubt, that our equipment is on the surface of the moon.”
The lander, Odysseus, descended from a moon-skimming orbit and guided itself toward the surface, searching for a relatively flat spot among all the cliffs and craters near the south pole.
The old joke is that the south pole of the Moon is like Motel 6: Free ice, no atmosphere.
I don't quite get the enthusiam that people have for the Moon's potential as a base. Yes, it has 1/6th the gravity of Earth. But everything needed, except maybe water, has to be flung up to the Moon from Earth and nobody is really sure that there will be enough water to be usefu.
And even if there is, every swinging-dick of a lunar-capable nation will want a piece of it. We know how that goes here when there is a scarce resource everyone wants-- sooner or later, the guns come out.
The Chinese landed on the dark side and relayed data from a satellite at L2
ReplyDeletehttps://cosmosmagazine.com/space/exploration/chinese-rover-structures-under-moon/
Far side, not dark side. It’s lit up 14 days per lunar month.
ReplyDeleteA station at the top of a gravity well, that’s why. In the long run, it’s for returning stuff and much longer range trips.
ReplyDeleteExpanding on CP88...and, as RAH pointed out, dropping rocks back into Earth's gravity well on targets of your choice....kinetic weapons of unlimited and radioactively clean explosive yield.
ReplyDeleteWishing it weren't so.
It's been pointed out that IM's bacon was saved by a NASA instrument (experimental, along for the ride) was substituted (in a feat of walk on water last minute reprogramming while in lunar orbit) to do its approach and landing guidance....the IM's hardware had fritzed in lunar orbit.
https://www.cnn.com/us/live-news/nasa-odysseus-moon-landing-intuitive-machines-scn/index.html
Now if we could just whip up some approach and landing guidance for the idiot, insane and deluded MAGA Right.
The premise of using the moon as a launching spot for longer trips is that there is water there that can be turned into hydrogen and oxygen for rocket fuel. The problem is that even by the most optimistic estimates there's about a pond's worth of water on the moon. It's also in the form of hydrates in rocks, not ice, so it would be doubly difficult to get and use. Most of the moon fever going on now is nationalist/billionaire dick measuring and sci-fi fantasy.
ReplyDeleteI watched the livestream of descent & .... landing? Seriously impressed they pulled off changing the landing SW to use NASA's Lidar. Only took an extra orbit, an hour.
ReplyDeleteFor a neat take on alternative history, check out "For all mankind" google it or check it out on IMDB. I think it's really well done except for a few head scratchers. they nailed the period correct cars, clothes, uniforms etc.
ReplyDeleteThere is no dark side of the moon.
ReplyDeleteMatter of fact it's all dark.
landing on the moon is easier than Mars. Its a crawl, walk,
ReplyDeleterun thing as you need to do the simpler things that aren't
really simple. We have landed on both but soft landings
are needed for Mars and most are not soft, bounce, bounce.
Like SpaceX return the booster upright and undamaged or
soaked in salt water to the pad, it makes a difference
as it was not done before and makes reuse possible.
Getting good at something that was basic to SciFi space travel
is actually important.
Eck!
Well almost...
ReplyDeleteWebles wobble, and this one tipped over.
In short its not upright but still functional.
ITs not easy!
Eck!