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Moon Landing Makes History

Historic Moon Landing is Giant Leap Forward For All of Humanity

BBC 23 FEB 2024

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As it nestled down gently inside a crater on the Moons' south pole, a spacecraft the size of a phone box kicked up a plume of dust and, with that, history was made.

Not since the last Apollo mission in 1972 has the US has put hardware on the lunar surface.

The Odysseus lander owned by American firm Intuitive Machines is the first built and operated by a private company to make a successful touchdown and Nasa boss Bill Nelson called it "a giant leap forward for all of humanity". But there was no-one on board so why is it so significant?

Our science correspondent Jonathan Amos explains that the scientific investigations it'll carry out make it a scout for the return of astronauts later this decade, potentially beginning a whole new era of space exploration.

The targeted landing site was a cratered terrain next to a 5km-high mountain complex known as Malapert. It's the southernmost point on the Moon ever visited by a spacecraft, at 80 degrees South.

It's on the shortlist of locations where Nasa is considering sending astronauts later this decade as part of its Artemis programme.

There are some deep craters in this region that never see any sunlight - they're permanently in shadow - and scientists think frozen water could be inside them.

"The ice is really important because if we can actually take advantage of that ice on the surface of the Moon, that's less materials we have to bring with us," explained Lori Glaze, Nasa's director of planetary science.

"We could use that ice to convert it to water - drinkable drinking water - and we can extract oxygen and hydrogen for fuel and for breathing for the astronauts. So it really helps us in human exploration."..Harrison Schmitt

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The Apollo astronauts were in a constant battle with lunar dust

Nasas' six payloads on board Odysseus are a mix of technology demonstration and science.

A key investigation will be one looking at the behaviour of lunar dust, which the Apollo astronauts found to be a serious nuisance, scratching and clogging their equipment.

The agency's scientists want to understand better how the dust is kicked up by landing craft to hang just above the surface before then settling back down.

The six commercial payloads on board include a student camera system from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, which should have been deployed from Odysseus when it was still 30m above the lunar surface.

This system was designed to take selfie images as the robot set itself down.

American artist Jeff Koons has also attached a box to the side of the lander that contains 125 small stainless steel balls to represent the Moons' different phases through a month.

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Artwork: It took a few minutes to establish communications with the lander

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