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After half-century absence, U.S. returns to moon as lunar lander Odysseus touches down:
America has returned to the moon after a 52-year absence. The unmanned Odysseus spacecraft touched down on the lunar surface shortly before 6:30 p.m. EST Thursday.
"We can confirm without a doubt that our equipment is on the surface and we are on the moon. Odysseus has found a new home," said Dr. Tim Crain, mission director of the IM-1, the first American private venture to send a module to the moon.
It's the first time the United States has had a new presence on the lunar surface since NASA's Apollo 11 in July 1969.
The Intuitive Machines Odysseus lunar lander, nicknamed "Odie" or "IM-1," settled on the moon's surface after a day's long trek but immediately began experiencing communication problems, preventing the transmission of data.
The general tone of this story here and elsewhere seems to be that this heralds a new era of a commercial space industry, but until one can show that there is any commercial value to being on the Moon besides directly supporting NASA/ESA/etc., is this a watershed moment, or is this just slightly expanding the potential NASA/ESA/etc. contractor pool? --hubie
Previously: Private US Moon Lander Successfully Launches 24 Hours After Flight Was Delayed
(Score: 2) by agr on Friday February 23 2024, @04:05PM (1 child)
Absolutely correct. I can’t think of anything that humans can do on the Moon that couldn’t be done more cheaply by robots, perhaps by a factor of 100. They can survive in vacuum, work continuously, and don’t need to be brought back to earth. The humans controlling them can work in shifts and go home after work, with zero personal risk. Macros can be developed (“pick up that rock”) and tested on Earth before uploading. Robots could be designed to be repaired by other robots. Only the electronics needs protection from radiation and even if a severe Solar storm wiped out all the electronics, a few fresh robots with a supply of spares could get everything running again.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Friday February 23 2024, @04:37PM