The landing site of the Intuitive Machines’ lunar lander has been moved to the South Pole. In this respect informs space news.
IM-1 will be the first lunar mission of Intuitive Machines, one of America’s private space contractors. Unlike SpaceX, whose main profile is to launch payloads from Earth, this company develops technologies for deep space missions, primarily moon exploration.
According to previous plans, the IM-1 was supposed to launch in the first quarter of 2023, with the lander scheduled to land in the Ocean of Storms located on the side that appears close to the equator. Now, the company said, the landing site has moved to the Malapert A crater, closer to the south pole (80 degrees S). This was done in support of the NASA Artemis manned program, where humans should land in the South Pole region in 2025-26.
The handover was made at the request of NASA, the mission’s client and owner of the payload. Due to the relocation, the landing date was also moved to the end of June, which should have little impact on the cost of the program (total contract value estimated at $77 million). At the same time, the scientific mission of the mission remains the same: to study the interaction of engine smoke with regolith during landing, to develop high-precision landing, navigation and communication technology.
Details can be found about humanity’s plans for the exploration of the moon and the construction of a lunar base. material “socialbites.ca”.
Source: Gazeta
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