Carrying Nasa instruments, Intuitive Machines Odysseus lander aims to be the first US landing on the moon for over 50 years
For years space exploration have been a state enterprise, but a new program from Nasa has opened the doors to private enterprise. Today’s landing attempt is one of a fleet of private spacecraft bound for the moon in the next few years. Under Nasa’s commercial lunar payload services (CLPS) initiative, the agency is funding firms to build spacecraft and deliver cargo – along with payloads from other paying organisations – to various sites on the lunar surface.
The arrangement is a way to ferry equipment to the moon before astronauts return there later this decade. But this new era of moon missions has some scientists rattled. Future landers aim to drill for ice and other materials, potentially iron and rare earths, which are of interest to mining firms, but might do damage to sites of scientific interest, or interfere with scientific experiements on the moon that rely on its isolation and contamination free environment.
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