Privately built lunar lander makes history with successful moon touchdown – NECN

A robotic spacecraft made history on Thursday, which became the first privately manufactured craft to touch the lunar surface, as well as the first American vehicle to achieve in more than 50 years.

The lander manufactured by intuitive machines, touches the lunar surface on the ET at around 6:23 pm, controls the late running disturbances with its onboard laser instruments. Investigation is now the first US spacecraft on the moon since the Apollo 17 mission in 1972.

Nova-C lander of intuitive machines, surname Odisius, launched in space on 15 February. 15 above a spaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The 14-Foot long lander then spent six days, with a distance of more than 620,000 miles to reach the moon.

The landing time was adjusted several times on Thursday as machines with intuitive knowledge adjusted the orbit of the spacecraft around the moon.

As it landed on the lunar surface, Odisius targeted a landing site near a pit called Malapart A, close to the south pole of the moon. The south polar region of the moon has long been tentalizing for scientists because water ice is considered relatively abundant in permanently shaded craters of the region.

Odisius is carrying a mixture of commercial cargo and NASA science equipment on its journey. The lander is expected to spend about a week in collecting data on the moon before the Moon Set set and loses the examination power.


An hour before the landing, the company also scrambled to solve a problem with laser equipment designed to help the spacecraft assess the lunar terrain and find a safe and dangerous space to touch the bottom. The laser rangefinder riding on the Odisius was not operated, but the lander was rebuilt instead of the sensor on one of the NASA science equipment.

The mission is part of NASA’s commercial lunar payload service program, which was established by the space agency to support the development of Moon Landers by private sector companies. NASA has eventually planned to appoint these companies as part of the agency’s widespread ambitions to transport cargo and scientific equipment to transport cargo and scientific equipment to the moon surface.

NASA honored the spontaneous machines with $ 118 million for executing the Moon Landing.

Last month, a separate company tried, but failed to send a lander to the moon under the same NASA program. Shortly after launching a spacecraft built by Astrobotic technology in Pittsburgh, a crippling malfunction was faced which forced the company to scrap the entire mission.

Apart from being the first commercial spacecraft on the moon, Odicius also joins an elite club: only the United States space agencies, the former Soviet Union, China, India and Japan have successfully performed a controlled or “soft” landing on the moon.

This story first appeared at NBCNEWS.com. More than NBC News:

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