Live stream of landing of Odysseus on Moon
UPDATE: The engineering team has decided to delay the landing attempt by one lunar orbit, pushing it back to 6:24 pm (Eastern). The live stream begins well before then, so that NASA can get in a lot of blather and propaganda, so feel safe waiting to tune in until 6 pm (Eastern).
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Capitalism in space: I have embedded below the NASA live stream for the presently scheduled 5:30 pm (Eastern) landing on the Moon of Intuitive Machines Nova-C lunar lander dubbed Odysseus.
The green dot on the map to the right marks the planned landing site, about 190 miles from the Moon’s south pole. This will be the closest attempted landing so far to that pole, and if successful it will land on the rim of a crater, Malapart A, that is believed to have a permanently shadowed interior.
Odysseus however has no instruments capable of seeing into that interior. Its main mission is engineering, to test the landing technology of Intuitive Machines’ spacecraft. As part of this effort, it will release a small camera probe, dubbed EagleCam, when it is about 100 feet above the surface, which will to take images of that landing. [Update: That probe is unprecedented for another reason: It will be first student-built probe to land on another world, as it was designed and built by a team of students at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Florida.]
If the landing is successful, Odysseus is designed to last until sunset on the Moon, about another two weeks. It carries a variety of NASA and commercial payloads, including a private small optical telescope. More important, it will allow the company to follow through with its manifest of future missions, including a second lunar landing later this year.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
UPDATE: The engineering team has decided to delay the landing attempt by one lunar orbit, pushing it back to 6:24 pm (Eastern). The live stream begins well before then, so that NASA can get in a lot of blather and propaganda, so feel safe waiting to tune in until 6 pm (Eastern).
——————-
Capitalism in space: I have embedded below the NASA live stream for the presently scheduled 5:30 pm (Eastern) landing on the Moon of Intuitive Machines Nova-C lunar lander dubbed Odysseus.
The green dot on the map to the right marks the planned landing site, about 190 miles from the Moon’s south pole. This will be the closest attempted landing so far to that pole, and if successful it will land on the rim of a crater, Malapart A, that is believed to have a permanently shadowed interior.
Odysseus however has no instruments capable of seeing into that interior. Its main mission is engineering, to test the landing technology of Intuitive Machines’ spacecraft. As part of this effort, it will release a small camera probe, dubbed EagleCam, when it is about 100 feet above the surface, which will to take images of that landing. [Update: That probe is unprecedented for another reason: It will be first student-built probe to land on another world, as it was designed and built by a team of students at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Florida.]
If the landing is successful, Odysseus is designed to last until sunset on the Moon, about another two weeks. It carries a variety of NASA and commercial payloads, including a private small optical telescope. More important, it will allow the company to follow through with its manifest of future missions, including a second lunar landing later this year.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Moon is full today, so it is lunar noon, and lunar sunset is about a week away, not two weeks.
And why land at noon, instead of nearer sunrise to get much longer daylight heating and solar power?
Ray Van Dune: I think Odysseus gets more time because of the very high latitude, but I could be wrong.
Yes, that might contribute to more sunlit time. Also, it might be more difficult to land with long dawn shadows, to the extent that optics plays a role in landing navigation.
At any rate, they are going to have to learn how to land, and take off, in darkness because that’s a large portion of the time on the moon.
OTOH, when the Sun is down on the moon, the Earth is up, and it’s pretty bright!
Another landing time update.
NASA TV coverage at 20:00 UTC = 3 pm EST and landing at 4:24 pm EST
https://www.intuitivemachines.com/im-1
My wording about the Earth being “up” on the Moon was misleading. The Moon being tidally locked with the Earth means that it is only visible from roughly half of the lunar surface. From those places where it is visible, it remains in nearly the same position at all times, it does not “rise” or “set”! It does move slightly due to lunar liberation (periodic wobbles in the orientation of the moon in its orbit).
What the Earth DOES do is change in how much of it is illuminated by the Sun! This goes from almost no illumination because it is near the Sun in the sky, to almost full illumination when it is opposite the Sun, on a roughly 28-day cycle, or a month.
lunar liberation -> lunar libration
Yet another landing time change.
Coverage now set for 1700 EST – 500pm
Landing at 1824 EST – 624pm
https://www.intuitivemachines.com/im-1
Jeff: Refresh your browser. I put up this updated landing time awhile ago.
Why keep faking this crap?
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2024/02/22/odysseus-lunar-lander-makes-history-moon-spacex-launch/72660310007/
Houston, Odysseus has found its new home,” Stephen Altemus, president and CEO of Intuitive Machines, said shortly after the landing at 5:23 p.m. CST.
The announcement of the landing came about 10 minutes after it happened following some communications challenges. Tension built as the team behind the IM-1 mission waited for confirmation with bated breath.
“I know this was a nail-biter but we are on the surface and we are transmitting,” Altemus said. “Welcome to the moon.”
Paul Revere: I think that the announcement you link to by the company’s CEO is premature in some ways. He adds nothing to the mission director’s statement, as I quoted in my post at the top of the page, describing the uncertain landing.
There are still unknowns here. We need to wait to find out more.
So, when they had the comms issue, they unplugged and re-plugged in the ground station. Heh.
Also, why isn’t there a network of satellites on/around the dark side that can bounce comms back to Earth?
GWB.
Build it. Launch it. Provide a service.
Are you going to wait for a government to do it for you? If so, then you also invite them to control it for you as well.
Nothing beats high framerate, high-resolution, on-board video of the descent & landing.