Second US Moon Mission Expected to End Today

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): Odysseus captured this image approximately 35 seconds after pitching over during its approach to the landing site. The camera is on the starboard aft-side of the lander in this phase. (Intuitive Machines)

Well, that was quick. Odysseus may run out of power today given its rough landing, prematurely ending the second US mission to the Moon this year, both of which had problems. It is really amazing that we landed humans on the Moon multiple times for days at a time when you consider the wreckage added to the Moon since then. I know the south pole is a different scenario, but this is where we want to be next. It is looking more and more difficult to do.

Intuitive Machines issued its latest update yesterday:

Odysseus continues to communicate with flight controllers in Nova Control from the lunar surface. After understanding the end-to-end communication requirements, Odysseus sent images from the lunar surface of its vertical descent to its Malapert A landing site, representing the furthest south any vehicle has been able to land on the Moon and establish communication with ground controllers…Flight controllers intend to collect data until the lander’s solar panels are no longer exposed to light. Based on Earth and Moon positioning, we believe flight controllers will continue to communicate with Odysseus until Tuesday morning.

It also appears that human error was at the center of the rough landing. Reuters reported yesterday that problems with the range finders related to Intuitive Machine’s decision not to conduct a test firing of the laser system. We learned that the range finders were “…inoperable because company engineers neglected to unlock the lasers’ safety switch before launch.” This may have saved some time and money, but we now see the results.

Mike Hansen, the company’s head of navigation systems, told Reuters:

There were certainly things we could’ve done to test it and actually fire it. They would’ve been very time-consuming and very costly…So that was a risk as a company that we acknowledged and took that risk.

The company made that decision with NASA funds on the line as well. I am not sure NASA would have been so cavalier about final testing. Human error is one thing. Commercial hubris is another. The company’s shortcut is already being reflected in its stock price.

One can certainly argue that progress is being made given that the first lander, Peregrine, never even made it to the Moon’s surface. Such trials and tribulations are to be expected. Yet I wonder if that is how all of the commercial partners see it. Both Moon missions were partially funded by private sector parties who saw their cargoes either burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere and stranded in the wrong position on the Moon. Will they continue to fund such ventures given the risks? Commercial involvement is a key part of the Artemis lunar program and it could be threatened by continuing problems.

The other question is whether these Artemis-related flights will delay the upcoming crewed missions. We should know more shortly, but you can be certain all of this is being factored into timelines being prepared by NASA.

Note: NASA had a press conference the other day on the Intuitive Machines Moon mission that can be found here.

Television: Spaceman Premiering on Netflix

Posted on by onespaceman2000

When I hear the name Adam Sandler, I do not think of a serious movie, particularly one about a space. And yet that is what Netflix is throwing our way, or at least it might have been a serious movie until they threw in a giant talking spider.

That’s right, Adam and a spider are coming to Netflix on March 1 in Spaceman to entertain you.

Here is the Netflix pitch (and the trailer):

Six months into a solitary research mission to the edge of the solar system, an astronaut, Jakub (Sandler), realizes that the marriage he left behind might not be waiting for him when he returns to Earth. Desperate to fix things with his wife, Lenka (Carey Mulligan), he is helped by a mysterious creature from the beginning of time he finds hiding in the bowels of his ship. Hanuš (voiced by Dano) works with Jakub to make sense of what went wrong before it is too late.

Should you want to bypass the movie and go straight to the book, you can look for the novel Spaceman of Bohemia by Jaroslav Kalfař.

Like the new series Constellation on Apple TV+, space has become a big canvas to tell the more mundane story about lonely humans. The spaceship and other hardware are simply furnishings in such tales.

All I know is that NASA is recruiting volunteers for its own long-term isolation Mars program and I just hope the agency have sprayed the facility for spiders.

A Day in Astronomy: The Mariner 6 Heads to Mars

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): The Mariner 6 spacecraft. (NASA)

On this day in 1969, NASA’s Mariner 6 was launched from Cape Canaveral using the Atlas-Centaur AC-20 rocket. The mission of Mariner 6 was to conduct a flyby of Mars and analyze the Martian atmosphere and surface with remote sensors.

This mission, as well as the Mariner 7 launch the following month, provided solid evidence that the dark features on the planet’s surface were not canals (as astronomer Percival Lowell and other had proposed).

You can find NASA’s Mariner information here.

Image (Credit): Close up of Mars taken by Mariner 6. (NASA)

Look Up: Is That Magnolia Wood?

Posted on by onespaceman2000
(Image/Credit): Artist’s rendering of the wooden LignoSat satellite. (Kyoto University)

The satellite industry may never be the same again. While we hear so much about new metals in our rockets, how often do you hear of simply putting wood into orbit?

I guess we should not have been too surprised now that wood is being used to build office towers. And the best part is that wooden satellites burn cleaner than metal satellites, making them safer for the environment.

Last year we learned about the Kyoto University’s test of wood materials on the International Space Station. The findings indicated that magnolia wood was one of the better materials for spacecraft, though more testing was needed.

The plan is for a summer 2024 launch of a coffee-size probe called LignoSat that can then be monitored for six months. That should be time to better understand the strength and effectiveness of the wood before it burns up in the Earth’s atmosphere.

It reminds me of the old joke about the Americans inventing a billion-dollar pen to write upside down in space while the Russians simply used a pencil. Maybe the Japanese also have some to teach us.

The Moon Landing: Imperfect, but Accomplished

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): The Odysseus lunar lander’s view of the moon’s Schomberger crater on Thursday, at about 6 miles altitude and approximately 125 miles uprange from the spacecraft’s intended landing site. (Intuitive Machines)

The United States is back on the Moon, even if the trip was bumpy. Plans to have pictures of the landing via the EagleCam were affected by a last minute switch to a NASA instrument that allowed Odysseus to safely land. The seems to be a fair trade, and the EagleCam can still be used to take pictures now that the lunar lander is stationary on the surface.

Embry‑Riddle Aeronautical University, which created the EagleCam, later noted:

…both the Intuitive Machines and EagleCam teams still plan to deploy EagleCam and capture images of the lander on the lunar surface as the mission continues. The time of deployment is currently unknown.

More importantly, Odysseus stumbled during the landing and is now tipped to one side. A tilted landing disabled the Japanese lunar lander earlier this year. Fortunately, the Odysseus’s solar panels are still catching the Sun’s rays and charging. This should allow the lander to conduct its work for about nine days until the Sun’s location will no longer charge the panels.

It seems the third try this year for the Moon’s south pole was precarious yet ultimately successful. That said, we are finding that the past successes are no guarantee of future success. This is the same region where NASA will be sending the Artemis astronauts. We need to get this right before we drop a crew on the Moon.