#IntuitiveMachines is not a company I hear much about, yet they landed some of their stuff on the moon? This post says their lander fell over on its side.
Intuitive Machines is yet another space company funded in part by US taxpayers, through NASA contracts.
NASA outlines nearly $1 billion investment into initial Moon Base missions
Intuitive Machines to buy ground station company
https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://spacenews.com/intuitive-machines-to-buy-ground-station-company/
NASA to increase value of CLPS contract to support surge of lunar lander missions
#Commercial missions currently targeting lunar π landing attempts in 2026
β’ #BlueOrigin: #BlueMoon
β’ #Firefly: #BlueGhost
β’ #IntuitiveMachines: #IM3
β’ #Astrobotic: #Griffin
In the second half of the year, #China π¨π³ aims to land at the lunar south pole and seek out water ice with its #robotic Chang'e 7 spacecraft
https://www.space.com/astronomy/moon/moon-rush-these-private-spacecraft-will-attempt-lunar-landings-in-2026
"Intuitive Machines" has already sent missions to the moon? I never heard of them.
#NASA, SpaceX, and Blue Origin are also working together to get people on the moon. There are so many ongoing missions among the nations. It's as if they are racing to get off the Earth before the judgments fall. But there would only be few seats available. Most of the taxpayers, responsible for funding much of the space programs, would be left behind.
Without negating the history of the moment, when on Monday (April 6) the fresh eyes of four astronauts catch sight of the up-close moon, it will take a bit longer before the rest of us on Earth are able to see what the Artemis II crew saw at the same clarity.
The Radio wave Observations at the Lunar Surface of the photoElectron Sheath (ROLSES) instrument is a radio telescope system designed to characterize the radio and plasma wave environment of the nearside lunar surface at frequencies between 2 kHz and 30 MHz. The ROLSES sensor consists of a set of four 2.5 meter radio monopole antennas onboard the Intuitive Machines (IM 1) lander, Odysseus. The antennas were stowed during launch and deployed after landing on the lunar surface using a frangibolt mechanism. The frequency range is well suited to observing radio waves at frequencies below 15 MHz that cannot be observed from Earth due to the ionospheric cutoff. Radio waves from the Sun, the Milky Way galaxy, Jupiter, Earth's auroral region, and ground-based radio transmitters were expected to be present on the lunar surface. Radio data from each of the 4 antennas, after passing through an isolating pre-amp and signal conditioning analog electronics, were digitized to 14 bits at 120 mega samples per second and then digitally processed by a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) that performs onboard spectral analysis via a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT). Time averaged spectral values are then stored and returned. Also telemetered to Earth are raw waveforms (unprocessed time sequence data) that are useful in studying dust impact on ROLSES antennas. ROLSES data are sent to the lander and subsequently downlinked for further processing. ROLSES is part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program. Odysseus landed close to the south pole at Malapert A (80 S). This paper describes the design and operations of the ROLSES instrument and presents initial observations made during transit and surface operations in February 2024. We also describe next version of this instrument (ROLSES 2) currently under development.
βThe goal of #Isaacman is 30 landings in three yearsβ. Only #Fireflyβs #BlueGhost 1 mission a year ago was a complete success. The two #IntuitiveMachines landers fell over upon landing. #Astroboticβs #Peregrine lander malfunctioned hours after launch and was unable to attempt a landing.
There are four #CLPS missions currently scheduled for launch this year: Astroboticβs Griffin-1, #BlueOriginβs #BlueMoon Mark 1, Fireflyβs Blue Ghost 2 and Intuitive Machinesβ #IM3 https://spacenews.com/nasa-considering-sharp-increase-in-robotic-lunar-landings/
Earl
Spaceflight Now β The leading source for online space news [Unofficial]
SpaceNews [Unofficial]
Spaceflight π
Ars Technica News
WOMUMP
Daniel Fischer