Since the space agency now expects some intuitive machines to be fully successful with their second landing effort, it has put some valuable experiments on the board. They have principal prime 1 experience, which has an ice drill for any ice sample that is below the surface. Drill, babe, drill.
Aidian Lander has also taken NASA’s financing “hopper”, which will fired small hydrazine rockets to bounce around the moon and look for lunar crabs near the south. It can even fly in the lava tube. If that happens, it will be extremely cool.
Since this is a trading program, NASA has encouraged delivery companies to find additional, private payloads. Aidian There are some Nifty, including a small rover of the lunar outpost, the Lonestar Data Holdings Data Center, and 4G Cellular Network from Nokia. So there is a lot of riding there AidianSuccess of success.
So will this be a success?
“Of course, everyone is surprised, are we going straight?” Tim Crane, Chief Technology Officer of Duper Machines, told ARS. “So, I can tell you that our laser test plan is much more comprehensive than the last time.”
About a year ago during the first landing, Odisis‘The laser -based system failed to measure height during the descent. Because Odisis Height data was not accessed, the spacecraft touched fast, and at 12 degrees slopes, which exceeded 10 degrees. As a result, the landler slipped to the surface, and one of his six legs collapsed, causing it to fall.
About 10 major changes were made to the spacecraft and its software for the second mission, Crane said. In the upper part, about 30 small items, such as more efficient file management, were updated on a new vehicle.
In theory, everything should work this time. Intuitive machines have the advantage of learning all of their time, and during this first effort, almost everything has done well. But the acid test comes on Thursday.
Company and NASA will provide direct coverage of the effort starting at 11:30 pm ET (16:30 UTC) NASA+With, just an hour after landing. The moon may be a hard mistress, but hopefully it will not be too hard.