I launch Odysseu, the new lander built by a private company headed to the Moon.
Launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral with a SpaceX Falcon 9, the vehicle is from the Texan company Intuitive Machine and is the third private lander to attempt the moon landing.
Thus begins the Im-1 Nova-C mission, which marks a new stage in the private race to conquer the Moon.
On board the lander there are six NASA scientific experiments and also a work of art by Jeff Koons.
If successful, the Im-1 Nova-C mission would be the first by a private individual and would mark the return of the USA after the last Apollo-17 mission in 1972.
The Moon has returned to the center of attention for some years international space programs, starting with Artemis, the ambitious program led by NASA and which sees important Italian and European participation in bringing man back to the Moon and the creation of a stable outpost around our satellite.
China, Russia, India, Japan and the United Arab Emirates are also of interest to the Moon.
Some private individuals have also entered the new race, but so far without success.
The first were the Japanese ispace with the Hakuto R - Mission 1 mission, which also carried on board an Emirates rover but which lost communications during the moon landing phase on 25 April 2022. Furthermore, just a month ago the Peregrine lander of The American Astobotic suffered a propellant leak shortly after launch and was then returned to Earth, burning up in the atmosphere.
Testifying to the complexity of the challenge is the fact that, of the last 11 moon landing attempts, only 4 have succeeded.
These include the Chinese Chang'e 5 mission in 2020, the Indian Chandrayaan-3 in 2023 and a few weeks ago the Japanese Slim mission, which managed to touch the ground intact but ended up upside down.
The new American attempt is led by the company Intuitive Machines which, again within the NASA program for commercial flights, the Commercial Lunar Payload Services aimed at supporting private participation in the Moon economy, aims to land the large Odysseus lander on the moon .
Weighing 675 kilos and 4.3 meters high, the lander should reach the Moon in just under 10 days and land about 300 kilometers from the lunar south pole, near a crater called Malapert A, near the descent sites already identified for Artemis missions.
Shortly before landing on the ground, Odysseus will release a small video camera which will have to film the final stages of the descent, while there are a total of 12 loads on board.
Of these, six are scientific instruments made by NASA, including the Polar Resources Ice-Mining Experiment-1 drill designed to drill up to one meter and analyze the terrain rich in water ice fundamental for future colonies, a prototype for 4G communications developed in collaboration with Nokia and a kangaroo minirobot capable of moving by jumping.
On board the lander there is also a work by artist Jeff Koons dedicated to the phases of the moon.
What makes the challenge even more difficult is not only the moon landing attempt, already complex in itself, but the fact that it takes place in the lunar south pole: a region chosen by many for the resources it would offer, but particularly difficult due to the very bumpy.
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