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The lunar lander Odysseus, known as “Odie” or IM-1, has embarked on a historic journey to the lunar surface – aiming to make the first trip by a US spacecraft to the moon in five decades .
The launch closely follows a separate failed US lunar landing mission in January. NASA has boosted the development of robotic spacecraft through private partners to assess the lunar environment and identify key resources – such as the presence of water – before it tries to return astronauts to the moon later in the decade.
Odie lifted off the top of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at 1:05 a.m. Thursday from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The mission was scheduled to launch on Wednesday, but the attempt was delayed by 24 hours due to the temperature of the propellant needed to power the spacecraft.
A trip to the moon
The Odie rocket burst into Earth orbit, blazing at speeds exceeding 24,600 miles per hour (11 kilometers per second), according to Intuitive Machines, the Houston-based company that developed the spacecraft under contract by NASA through its Commercial Lunar Payload Services Program.
Odie’s path is “a high-energy fastball pitch toward the moon,” as Stephen Altemus, CEO of Intuitive Machines, put it.
After burning through its fuel, the rocket detaches from Odie, leaving the lunar lander to escape alone through space. The robotic explorer then consulted an onboard map of the stars so it could orient itself in space, pointing its solar panels towards the sun’s rays to charge its batteries.
“We’re seeing everything we expect,” according to a dispatch from Intuitive Machines mission control around 2 a.m. ET.
Odie is now on an oval path around Earth, stretching as far as 380,000 kilometers (236,100 miles) from home. At about 18 hours into the spaceflight, the vehicle will ignite its engine for the first time, continuing its high-speed journey toward the lunar surface.
The moon, which orbits about 250,000 miles (400,000 kilometers) from Earth, is expected to give Odie a gentle gravitational tug as the spacecraft approaches, pulling the vehicle toward its ragged surface.
Odie is scheduled to make his nail-biting attempt on February 22, aiming for a crater near the moon’s south pole.
It will be a dangerous trek. If Odie fails, it will join a growing list of failed missions to the moon: A critical fuel leak stalled the first US-built lunar lander in five decades, Falcon Astrobotic Technology, last month. That came after two failed missions from other countries in 2023: one from Russia and another from a company based in Japan.
So far China, India and Japan are the only nations that have landed soft vehicles on the moon in the 21st century.
What will Odie do on the moon
Odie’s trip to the moon can be considered a scouting mission of sorts, designed to assess the lunar environment before NASA’s current plan to return a crewed mission to the moon through the Artemis program in late 2026.
The south pole of the Moon is an area of widespread interest among new international space races, as the region is thought to contain stores of water ice. The precious resource could be converted into drinking water for astronauts or even rocket fuel for missions that explore deeper into space.
Six payloads of NASA science and technology are packed aboard the lunar lander. They include a radio receiver system that will study lunar plasma, which is created by solar winds and other charged particles raining down on the moon’s surface.
Other payloads will test technology that could be used on future lunar landing missions, such as a new sensor that could help guide precision landings.
The Navigation Doppler Lidar, as the sensor is called, “shoots laser beams to the ground and measures spacecraft velocity – that’s speed – and direction of flight,” said Farzin Amzajerdian, principal investigator of the lidar payload at NASA’s Langley Research. Center in Hampton, Virginia.
Also on board the lander is a technological payload and memorabilia from the private sector. Columbia Sportswear, for example, developed a special insulating material that could help protect Odie from the extreme temperatures of the moon. A small sculpture representing the phases of the moon — designed in consultation with artist Jeff Koons — will also be placed on board.
Odie also has a camera system called EagleCam that was developed by students at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida. The device is set to be lowered from the lunar lander as it approaches the surface and captures images of the vehicle’s descent.
“Hopefully we’ll get a visual of that landing to share with the public,” Altemus said.
Odie is expected to operate on the lunar surface for seven days before darkness falls on the landing site, blocking the spacecraft’s solar panels from the sun and plunging into freezing temperatures.
CNN’s Kristin Fisher contributed to this report.
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