US Second Lunar Lander 'Odysseus' Launch ... First Private Sector Challenge

Public Phone Booth Size
Equipped with 6 Observation and Exploration Devices

The lunar lander 'Odysseus' from the U.S. private space company Intuitive Machines has been launched. If the probe's landing is successful, it will be the first private spacecraft to land on the moon and the first U.S. probe to land on the moon in over 51 years since the Apollo 17 mission in December 1972.

The lunar lander 'Nova-C,' developed by the U.S. private space company Intuitive Machines, lifted off into the sky on the 15th (local time) at around 1 a.m. (Eastern Time) from the Cape Canaveral launch site in Florida, carried by SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

According to major foreign media on the 15th (local time), SpaceX, the launch contractor for Intuitive Machines' lunar landing project 'IM-1,' launched the lunar lander 'Nova-C' on SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket from the Cape Canaveral launch site in Florida at 1 a.m. (Eastern Time). The probe was originally scheduled to launch the previous day but was delayed by one day.

The launch of Odysseus is the second project under NASA's lunar exploration program 'Artemis' linked to the 'Commercial Lunar Payload Services' (CLPS). NASA believes that instead of developing lunar landers directly, having private companies compete and develop them is a more cost-effective and faster way to produce multiple spacecraft and advance lunar exploration.

Previously, among the companies contracted by NASA and CLPS, Astrobotic launched the lunar lander 'Peregrine' into space for the first time last month, but this initial attempt ended in failure. Peregrine experienced issues such as fuel leakage just hours after its launch on the 8th of last month, failing to attempt a lunar landing and re-entered the atmosphere ten days later, burning up. According to the plan, Odysseus will fly through space for about a week after leaving Earth and land on the lunar south pole surface on the 22nd.

Odysseus is about the size of a phone booth and is equipped with six different observation and exploration instruments. It also carries a moon-shaped sculpture created in collaboration with the famous artist Jeff Koons and spacecraft insulation developed by the clothing company Columbia for protection.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.