Privat farkost landar strax på månen...

[Mackan L]

Mindre än 30 min kvar till landning.


https://plus.nasa.gov/scheduled-video/i ... r-landing/

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/science ... t-68349490

Summary
US firm Intuitive Machines is attempting to make history by being the first private company to successfully land a spacecraft on the Moon
The spacecraft, nicknamed Odysseus, is aiming to touch down near the South Pole of the Moon, where scientists hope there could be a source of water
The craft has been making the 384,400km (238,855 mile) journey from Earth after blasting off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, last Thursday.
Intuitive Machines has been contracted by Nasa to carry six scientific instruments on board that will help study the Moon's surface and measure radio waves.
The Houston-based company hopes to send another spacecraft in March that would drill to find underground ice.
Odysseus is also carrying 125 tiny sculptures made by US artist Jeff Koons. He hopes they will be the first artworks to make it to the lunar surface
You can watch our live stream by pressing the play button at the top of this page.

[Mackan L]

Odysseus har landat på månen och man har sändning från den.

[Mackan L]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/science ... t-68349490

23:39
Odysseus sticks the landing

We've heard the team confirm Odysseus has successfully landed near the South Pole of the Moon, a monumental moment for US firm Intuitive Machines and for the wider US space sector.

With the landing, Intuitive Machines has become the first private company to successfully land a spacecraft on the surface of the Moon.

It's also a big day for Nasa and the US air and space community, which has not launched a successful mission to the Moon in over half a century.

Stay with us for more updates and watch along by clicking Play above.

[Mackan L]

23:42
'Welcome to the Moon'

After a round of somewhat muted applause, we've just heard CEO Steve Altemus tell his team: "welcome to the moon".

Speaking to his team, Altemus says that Odysseus has found its "new home".

They're still having some communications issues, but the team has confirmed that the spacecraft is on the surface of the moon and transmitting.

[Mackan L]

23:49
Rebecca Morelle
Science editor
Team will now try to find out what lander is doing

Watching a lunar landing is always nerve-wracking - especially when you know that about half of all attempted lunar landings have not succeeded.

Then finding out that a laser onboard the spacecraft has failed, with a back-up navigation system that was supposed to be a tech demonstration was responsible for getting the lander down, made it more nail-biting still.

And then throw in a seemingly endless wait to hear anything back...

But now the team has had a signal they know the spacecraft has made it down to the surface bringing the US back to the Moon.

The team will now want to find out how the lander is doing - and why it took so long to take a signal back -before the science phase of this mission can begin.

[Mackan L]

0:07
Nasa chief applauds US return to moon

Nasa chief Bill Nelson has applauded the Odysseus landing as a "giant leap forward for all of humanity" and a triumph for the US.

"For the first time in more than half a century, the US has returned to the Moon," he said in remarks recorded earlier.

"Today, for the first time in the history of humanity, a commercial company - an American company - launched and led the voyage up there."

The spacecraft is carrying six scientific instruments on Nasa's behalf that are designed to help study the Moon's surface and measure radio waves.

Nelson said the landing starkly highlights "the power and promise" of commercial partnerships between Nasa and commercial space firms and congratulated "everyone involved in this great and daring quest".

Quote Message: This feat is a giant leap forward for all of humanity."

This feat is a giant leap forward for all of humanity."

[Mackan L]

0:22
A historic moment, even as questions remain

Jonathan Amos

Science correspondent

We’ve just witnessed an important moment, not just for the commercial exploitation of space but for the American space programme in general.

Intuitive Machines has broken a half-century absence of the US from the Moon's surface. Not since the last Apollo mission has US hardware nestled down gently in the lunar soil.

The Odysseus spacecraft has no-one onboard - it's just a robot - but its planned scientific investigations make it a scout for the return of astronauts later this decade.

The question we all have right now is: what condition is it in?

Clearly it landed softly enough to transmit to Earth, but the controllers at Intuitive Machines haven’t got the clarity they were hoping for... at least not yet.

In the coming hours, as engineers work to understand the signals coming down from the Moon, a picture will emerge about the craft’s status.

Remember, we had to wait a couple of hours before the Japanese space agency was able to tell us that their Slim lander was down and safe, albeit in an awkward position. Odysseus may also be in an awkward position.

But don’t underplay what’s just happened. America is back on the Moon.