NOVA-C ROCKET LANDS ON MOON

On February 22nd, at precisely 23 minutes after 6 o’clock EST, the IM-1 mission landed on the South Pole of the lunar surface. A week earlier, on February 15th, the Nova-C Lunar Lander launched atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The project was co-funded by Intuitive Machines, a space exploration company. The rocket is delivering supplies for a 2026 mission to the moon in the SLS rocket. The Nova-C Lander itself is the size of a telephone booth and has many scientific instruments. Some of the supplies include the SRID-the Solar Radiation Induction System, the Laser Electromagnetic Radio Device or LEMORD, and the Ultralight Powered Lunar Rock Analysis System. The sixteen minute journey from Lunar Geosynchronous Orbit (LGO), to the Lunar surface included a complicated set of tasks like Fixed Altitude Positioning and Radar Velocity Updates and Terrain Updates & Ranging. Intuitive Machines was paid $18 Million by NASA to design, build, launch, and land the Lander.

ThIs is significant because it is paving the way for new discoveries on the moon. Astronauts on the Artemis Mission will use the LEMORD for researching charged ion particles on the moon and the SRID for collecting materials from the moon. The astronauts will then analyze the dust (or regolith), to make hydrogen rocket propellant. Twenty-seven minutes after landing on the South Pole, Flight Director Tim Crain, who was hunched over the tiny view screen of the computer, finally announced: “NASA, Nova-C has found its home.” 

Matthew, signing off for now!