An Intuitive Machines-built lunar lander carrying six NASA science research and technology demonstrations has touched down on the lunar surface following a seven-day journey to lunar orbit.
NASA said Friday its Navigation Doppler Lidar for Precise Velocity and Range Sensing guidance system for descent and landing has helped Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C lander, called Odysseus, softly land Thursday near Malapert A, a landing site close to the moon’s South Pole region.
According to NASA, Intuitive Machines turned to the guidance system when it encountered a sensor issue with its navigation system.
The NASA instrument uses a laser that emits pulses through three optical telescopes and measures speed, direction and altitude during descent and touchdown.
Other NASA payloads launched onboard Odysseus are a CubeSat-sized autonomous navigation demonstrator, a laser retroreflector array, a radio frequency mass gauge, a photoelectron sheath density observation instrument and stereo cameras for lunar plume-surface studies.
“This feat from Intuitive Machines, SpaceX, and NASA demonstrates the promise of American leadership in space and the power of commercial partnerships under NASA’s CLPS initiative. Further, this success opens the door for new voyages under Artemis to send astronauts to the Moon, then onward to Mars,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson.