IM-1
2024 lunar landing mission / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dear Wikiwand AI, let's keep it short by simply answering these key questions:
Can you list the top facts and stats about IM-1?
Summarize this article for a 10 year old
IM-1 was a lunar mission that was carried out in February 2024 jointly by a partnership between the NASA CLPS program and Intuitive Machines (IM), using an Nova-C lunar lander. IM named their lunar lander as its Odysseus lander. The Odysseus lander was the first commercial lunar lander to have successfully soft-landed on the Moon.[7][8]
Names | IM-1 TO2-IM[1] CLPS-2[2] |
---|---|
Mission type | Lunar landing |
Operator | Intuitive Machines |
COSPAR ID | 2024-030A |
SATCAT no. | 58963 |
Mission duration | 37 days and 9 hours[3] |
Spacecraft properties | |
Spacecraft | Odysseus |
Spacecraft type | Nova-C |
Manufacturer | Intuitive Machines |
Launch mass | 1,900 kilograms (4,200 lb) |
Start of mission | |
Launch date | February 15, 2024, 06:05:00 (2024-02-15UTC06:05Z) UTC |
Rocket | Falcon 9 Block 5 (B1060.18) |
Launch site | Kennedy LC-39A |
End of mission | |
Last contact | February 29, 2024 (2024-03-01)[4] |
Lunar lander | |
Landing date | February 22, 2024, 23:23:00 UTC |
Landing site | Malapert A 80.13°S 1.44°E / -80.13; 1.44[5] |
IM-1 mission insignia Motto: ADTIGO PLANITIA LUNAE (I touch the plains of the Moon) (Stick The Landing)[6] |
After contact with the lunar surface the lander tipped to an unplanned 30 degree angle. All instrument payloads remained functional and the mission was deemed successful.[9] Intuitive Machines initially stated there was a possibility the lander could wake up in about three weeks when the sun comes out,[10] but on March 23 the company announced its conclusion that the lander's electronics had not survived the lunar night, and the mission was declared over.[11][12]
Odysseus's "rough" soft Moon landing is the first soft lunar landing of any kind for an American-made spacecraft since Apollo 17 in 1972. It is the first soft lunar landing by a private company.[13][14] It is the first liquid methane and liquid oxygen (methalox)-powered spacecraft to fire beyond low-earth orbit, and it is also the first methalox spacecraft to land on an off-world celestial body.[15] Odysseus carried six payloads developed by NASA in addition to others from commercial and educational customers.