"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.
“The goal of #Isaacman is 30 landings in three years”. Only #Firefly’s #BlueGhost 1 mission a year ago was a complete success. The two #IntuitiveMachines landers fell over upon landing. #Astrobotic’s #Peregrine lander malfunctioned hours after launch and was unable to attempt a landing.
There are four #CLPS missions currently scheduled for launch this year: Astrobotic’s Griffin-1, #BlueOrigin’s #BlueMoon Mark 1, Firefly’s Blue Ghost 2 and Intuitive Machines’ #IM3 https://spacenews.com/nasa-considering-sharp-increase-in-robotic-lunar-landings/
Intuitive Machines raises $175 million in stock sale
https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://spacenews.com/intuitive-machines-raises-175-million-in-stock-sale/
2026 #lunar 🌙 missions
• #Astrobotic’s #Griffin lander is scheduled for July 2026, will carry #Astrolab’s FLEX rover
• #IntuitiveMachines' third #NovaC mission in the second half of the year will carry payloads for #NASA, #ESA, and #KASI
• #BlueOrigin's first lunar landing with its #BlueMoon #Mark1 craft
• #Firefly's #BlueGhost Mission 2 in November will carry five payloads to the lunar surface
• #China is planning a #ChangE 7 landing near the lunar south pole
https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2026/01/space-science-2026-preview/
RE: https://mastodon.social/@arstechnica/115853731744568358
• #Artemis 🌙 🇺🇸
• #Starship refueling ⛽, catch 🦾
• #BlueMoon 🌙
• #Neutron 🚀
• #Nova 🚀
• #Mengzhou ♻️🇨🇳
• #Zhuque3 ♻️️🇨🇳
• Roman #SpaceTelescope 🔭🇺🇸
• #ChangE7
• #Spectrum, #RFA One, #Miura5 🇪🇺🚀
• #TerranR 🚀
• #Eclipse 🚀
• #NovaC 🌙
• #BlueGhost 🌙
• #Astroscale refueler ⛽
• #Plato exoplanets 🔭🇪🇺
• #Gaganyaan 🚀🇮🇳
• #Martian Moons Exploration 🛰️ 🇯🇵
#NASA #ESA #CASC #ISRO #JAXA #SpaceX #BlueOrigin #RocketLab #StokeSpace #LandSpace #Vast #RelativitySpace #Firefly #NorthropGrumman #IntuitiveMachines #Astroscale
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