Written by Joe Skipper and Steve Gorman
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) – Plans to launch a robotic lunar lander built by Houston-based aerospace company Intuitive Machines were canceled less than two hours before launch time on Wednesday and postponed for at least a day. launch contractor SpaceX announced Tuesday. night.
SpaceX, the private rocket and satellite company founded by billionaire Elon Musk, said on social media platform Announced.
The exact function of methane and how it affects the proper functioning of the Falcon 9 rocket was not immediately explained. The rocket’s Merlin engine runs on kerosene and liquid oxygen.
The decision to cancel the Intuitive Machines flight, which was scheduled to launch at 12:57 a.m. EST Wednesday from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, was made about 75 minutes before liftoff.
SpaceX said it will target its next launch opportunity for an unmanned mission, scheduled for 1:05 a.m. ET Thursday.
Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C lander, named Odysseus, is on track for a mission that aims to be the first U.S. landing on the moon by a privately owned vehicle since the last Apollo moon mission half a century ago. It remains poised atop the Falcon 9 rocket.
The feat also comes as the United States races to return astronauts to Earth’s natural satellite before China can land its own manned spacecraft on Earth’s natural satellite. will travel to the moon.
The launch comes shortly after another private company, Astrobotic Technology’s lunar lander, was launched into orbit by United Launch Alliance (ULA)’s Vulcan rocket on January 8, when its propulsion system failed on its way to the moon. This took place one month after the plant suffered a leak. Debut flight.
The failure of Astrobotic’s Peregrine lander, which was also part of the NASA mission, followed ill-fated efforts by Israeli and Japanese companies, with private companies unable to achieve a “soft landing” on the moon. It was the third time.
These accidents illustrate the risks NASA faces in relying more than ever on the commercial sector to realize its spaceflight goals.
The latest IM-1 flight is considered an Intuitive Machines mission, designed to collect data about the lunar environment ahead of NASA’s Artemis mission, which will return astronauts to the moon for the first time since 1972. It is believed to carry six NASA payloads of equipment.
If the four-legged Odysseus lander touches down this week, the plan is to reach its destination on February 22, landing in the crater Malapart A near the moon’s south pole.
(Reporting by Joe Skipper in Cape Canaveral, Florida and Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Editing by Jerry Doyle)
