The commercial missions of the moon with NASA links are all anger now. Aerospace Firefly Aerospace stuck landing on your mission of blue spirits On March 2, now, intuitive machines will try a similar success with their Mission IM-2 Thursday. It should be an exciting ride and be able to watch live.
What is im-2?
Intuitive machines Lunar Lander Nova-C is nickname Athens. It carries a package of scientific instruments and robots – including drone, multiple small rover and NASA drill designed to bury three meters below the surface. Lander's load includes both NASA and commercial loads.
The mission is part of NASA's commercial lunar load service program, an attempt by the space agency to use private companies to send Landers and Rovers to the moon. NASA's susceptible goals through their program “Artemis Moon” should return astronauts to the lunar surface and establish a long -term presence of man there. Im-2 is in the service of that vision.
“Lunder brings NASA technology that will measure the potential presence of lunar soil resources that can be extracted and used by future fuel -producers or oxygen that can breathe”, “” said the space agency In the March 4 update.
When is the landing of the moon im-2?
The Mission to them-2 sent several views to the country after launching in February.
Athens' travels began on February 26 with the launch of the SpaceX Falcon 9 from Florida. Intuitive machines target the mission landing at 9:32 pm on Thursday, March 6th. At the site of landing is near the south pole of the moon, NASA's main region for future human research.
The weather was partially dictated by the availability of sunlight on the surface of the moon. Lander Athens uses solar energy. Intuitive machines expect the land to work for about 10 days.
How to see the landing on IM-2
NASA Landing Coverage runs free NASA's plus streaming service Starting at 8:30 pm, PT, about an hour before touch. NASA Plus is available through the web site or through NASA application. The broadcast will also be turned on YouTube.
After the next press conference, it is scheduled for 1 pm.
Myth to the moon to stay
There is another way to get involved with the landing holidays and the mission. The XFINITY service of Comcast and Mit Media Lab teamed up for real -time coverage. Myth is included in the lunar platform for mobile autonomous quests of the IM-2 mission, Rover. MAPP is designed to navigate with rough terrain using sensors and visual signs.
Myth To the moon to stay The program features of educational resources and will deliver A. Livestream of landing Along with other key mission events. Watch out for later live food that includes Mapp Rover along with photos and videos of the lunar surface.
The Xfinity X1 clients can access the mission resources and live, saying “to the moon” on their voice remote controls.
Why im-2 is important
Crew space missions tend to attract a lot of attention. IM-2 may not have people on the ship, but it's worth following about fascinating science. Planetary scientist Phil Metzger, a professor of research at the University of Central Florida, highlights the ice mining experiment on the polar resources mission 1.
Premier-1 aims to measure the ice in the soil of the moon and that is a big deal.
“That ice contains a record of the history of the internal solar system and can help us understand how water and carbon were delivered to the country-moon system billion years, turning Earth into a planet that could appear,” Metzger told CNET. “This is crucial to understand how many other planets can be able to support life in the galaxy, so it helps to answer the question:” Are we alone in the cosmos? “You can't be deeper than that.
NASA hopes that Prime-1 will help researchers understand the availability of water. Water is difficult and expensive to transport through space, so future human expeditions will want to use what is already on the moon.
Landing the moon is hard
Athens sent a lunar selfie while in orbit around the moon.
Many missions tried and failed to land on the moon successfully. Russia's Luna-25 mission crashed into the moon in 2023. Israeli mission Bereshet and India Chandrayan-2 Vikram Lander Both collapsed in 2019. “Lunar launchers are a challenge, not just because the lunar environment is so cruel and exotic, but because we fly so little of them,” Metzger said, noting that failures are part of the learning process on how to make sure lands on the moon.
It is much harder to touch the moon than on Earth. “The moon has enough gravity to be a challenge to descend gently, but there is no atmosphere to help slow down the land,” says Oshosh Colwell, a Dean of the College of Sciences at the University of Central Florida. “The surface is very rough on all spatial proportions, so the top of the land is a real risk.”
It's not just about having a good landing hardware. The ship's software and systems need to analyze the surface to help run land in a safe place.
Lunar landings are exciting, partly because of the dangers that machines need to move for a safe touch.
You may be wondering what happened to the IM-1 mission. Intuitive machines delivered their Odysseus Lander to the moon in 2024, but not everything went right. Lander made it on the surface, but finished sideways, placing a shock absorber for his scientific work. The company is rooted for gently, upright landing for IM-2.