On The Moon
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Privately built lunar lander makes history with successful moon touchdown
The lander, built by Intuitive Machines, touched down on the lunar surface at around 6:24 p.m. ET, overcoming a late-stage glitch with its onboard laser instruments.
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The historic landing wasn't without its hiccups.
While in orbit, Odysseus couldn't turn on a laser instrument designed to help it safely find its way to the lunar surface. An unexpected backup solution was on board: NASA called on its experimental, lidar-based rangefinder, that it hadn't planned on using to guide this landing.
"Water is important because you can split it apart into hydrogen and oxygen, so you have oxygen to breathe," she says. The two elements are "also components that you can use for rocket fuel."
"The ultimate goal of some of this is to use the moon's resources to enable exploration further out into the solar system," she says.
While in orbit, Odysseus couldn't turn on a laser instrument designed to help it safely find its way to the lunar surface. An unexpected backup solution was on board: NASA called on its experimental, lidar-based rangefinder, that it hadn't planned on using to guide this landing.
"Water is important because you can split it apart into hydrogen and oxygen, so you have oxygen to breathe," she says. The two elements are "also components that you can use for rocket fuel."
"The ultimate goal of some of this is to use the moon's resources to enable exploration further out into the solar system," she says.