Second Private US Moon Probe launches on a Falcon 9 rocket

Second Private US Moon Probe launches on a Falcon 9 rocket
by Jennifer Briggs
Space Coast FL (SPX) Feb 15, 2024

Since the December 1972 Apollo 17 mission, NASA has not launched a spacecraft to perform a soft landing on the Moon. The mission, dubbed IM-1, was originally scheduled to launch in the early morning hours on Wednesday (Feb. 14), but was scrubbed due to "off-nominal methane temperatures prior to stepping into methane load."

A 14-foot-tall moon lander built by a Houston-based company, Intuitive Machines, launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Launch Complex 39-A (LC-39A), at 1:05 a.m. EST (0605 UTC) on Thursday. Along the way, the rocket's first stage separated and successfully landed back on LZ-1 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station for the 18th time.

Nicknamed Odie, short for Odysseus, Nova-C is loaded with 12 payloads, six of which are for NASA, such as a laser-based descent and landing sensor camera system to study dust plumes created by Odie's engines and a radio science instrument as a part of the agency's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative and Artemis campaign.

The 675-kilogram probe was fueled with liquid oxygen and liquid methane through a quick disconnect on the side of a modified Falcon 9 second stage three hours prior to liftoff. Odie will touchdown on February 22nd at crater Malapert A, near the south pole of the moon.

During its final descent to the surface, Eaglecam will eject from the lander and attempt to photograph the landing. EagleCam is a camera developed by students at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, California, a challenge given to the students by Intuitive Machines' founder and Embry-Riddle alumnus, Steve Altemus, during his visit to the campus in 2019.

Following the landing, Odysseus is expected to operate on the moon's surface for seven days before the lunar sunset.

Should Odie succeed with its mission, it will be the first private mission to gently touch down on the moon. The first CLPS payloads flew aboard Astrobotic's Peregrine lander, which launched the inaugural mission of the United Launch Alliance's Vulcan Centaur rocket on Jan. 8, 2024. The liftoff went well, but Peregrine experienced a propellant leak hours after deploying from the rocket's Centaur upper stage that prevented the spacecraft from attempting a lunar landing.

Florida's Space Coast heard two pairs of sonic booms within eight hours. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched the USSF-124 mission for the United States Space Force at the beginning of the four-hour window at 5:30 p.m. EST (2230 UTC) from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at CCSFS. Eight minutes after liftoff, the booster supporting the USSF-124 mission landed on SpaceX's Landing Zone 2 (LZ-2) at CCSFS.