Intuitive machines by American Company successfully landed on the moon, so it is hoped that they will be able to contribute well to space exploitation. This record is able to correct the United States’ absence on the moon for centuries. The landing was so tense that the staff cheered when they made it. Now they are transmitting. The plane that landed used an autonomous navigation system.
The American Company Aims at Lunar Exploration
The company that released this autonomous aircraft said that the signal transmitted was quite weak. They said something was blocking the transmission from the antenna. However, Thomas Zurbuchen (former NASA science chief) explained that the object blocking signal transmission could be a rock.
This plane was named Odysseus at 23:23 GMT. The signal was lost, which worried the staff on earth. The laser for measuring the height and speed of the plane experienced problems. Luckily, there are NASA instruments installed on Odysseus. The tool was then successfully installed into the navigation computer by engineers. Communication was successfully re-established even though the signal was weak.
The plane landed and was ready to explore the lunar surface. Then the plane captured several photos of the lunar surface. Foto has also sent data in the form of images to staff on earth. It can take photos, but it cannot send live videos.
The location where they landed was in a crater close to mountains 5 km high. This area has many craters, and some craters never receive sunlight at all. There are many hypotheses that this area may have frozen water. The availability of frozen water allows astronauts to carry less water for drinking. They can process the ice into water for drinking. Then the frozen water can also be extracted into oxygen and hydrogen.
This exploration is expected to be able to reveal the behavior of lunar dust. Moon dust is a serious problem for astronauts landing on the lunar surface because it can scratch and clog the astronauts’ equipment.