US makes first successful Moon landing in more than 50 years

A HOUSTON-BASED company completed the United States’ first successful lunar landing in more than 50 years, after a dramatic touchdown last night.

It was feared the landing of the hexagon-shaped Odysseus, owned by Intuitive Machines, would have to be abandoned or delayed after its onboard laser-based navigation system failed.

However, technicians managed to use a Nasa instrument which was part of the payload to complete the mission. It was described as a “white knuckle” ride by Bill Nelson, Nasa administrator.

It was the first successful moonshot by the US since the Apollo 17 mission in 1972. The last attempt, in mid-january, ended in failure after the Peregrine landing craft started leaking fuel, which left it unable to carry out the planned soft landing. Instead, Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic Technology turned the Peregrine into a satellite, testing scientific instruments as it flew around space before being disposed of by flying into the Earth’s atmosphere.

The purpose of the trip was to help Nasa prepare for a future Moon landing under the Artemis mission. Landing on the Moon is fraught with difficulties, and more than half the attempts have failed. Government missions by the US, Russia, India, China and Japan have managed to do so, but it has never been achieved by private enterprise.

The mission’s destination was Malapert A, an impact crater 300 kilometres (180 miles) from the lunar south pole.

Odysseus, nicknamed “Odie” or IM-1, was fitted with a battery of instruments including cameras to investigate how the lunar surface changes as a result of the engine plume from a spaceship, and a device to analyse clouds of charged dust particles that hang over the surface at twilight as a result of solar radiation.

It had been fired into the Earth’s orbit last week from the Spacex Falcon 9 rocket, which was fuelled by a new type of supercooled liquid oxygen, liquid methane propulsion system that allowed it to race through space. Once detached from the rocket, the lander was left to fly through space, being guided by an onboard map of the stars.

The mission represents the increasing involvement of private companies in space exploration.

Research by Morgan Stanley suggested commercial activity will be worth $1.1trillion by 2040. Nasa has been keen to have private companies share the financial burden and the agency paid Intuitive Machines $118 million under a new initiative called Commercial Lunar Payload Services.

Craig Hardgrove, of Arizona State University, said: “The technology had to be reinvented to get us back to this point. They are embracing a new kind of risk posture, which will make space easier to access. It will mean more people and not just small groups of astronauts will get to enjoy the grandeur of space and the Moon.”