In the early hours of Wednesday morning, a rocket carrying the Intuitive Machines lunar lander will lift off, carrying NASA equipment, but also some items sent to the moon. The lander was loaded with NASA's scientific and technical instruments, as well as a number of commercial payloads that should not have been on the moon. With the rise of the moon landing business, money may be the only factor that determines what can land on that dusty surface.
At 12:57 a.m. ET on Wednesday, Intuitive Machines' highly anticipated IM-1 mission will launch from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. For the Houston-based company, it marked its first attempt to land on the moon. NASA is funding these commercial lunar missions to enable regular cargo transportation services, with plans to become a frequent visitor to lunar transportation. Just, why does it also include sending NFTs to the moon?
The Odyssey carried 12 payloads, six of which were designed by NASA, to study the effects of the lander on the lunar surface during the descent and how space weather interacts with the surface. NASA's other projects include a radio astronomy tool, precision landing technology and a communications and navigation node for upcoming autonomous navigation tests.
The lander also carried a camera system designed by students at the Embry-Riddle Aviation University, which would separate from the lander prior to landing to capture the moment of descent. In addition, there is a 1 called ILO-XA 3-pound dual-camera system that will attempt to capture wide- and narrow-angle images of the Milky Way from the Moon. Even more bizarrely, Odyssey's other payloads include small discs called "Lunagrams", which contain information from Earth as a time capsule for our planet. Galactic Legacy Labs' projects include text, images, audio, and archives from major databases such as the Arch Mission Foundation and Wikipedia, which depict life on Earth.
Artist Jeff Koons was also involved in Operation Moon, issuing his "Moon Phases" art cube, which consists of 125 small stainless steel sculptures of different moon phases, encased in a glass sphere. The sculptures are part of Koons' first-ever NFT project and the first artwork to be licensed to be placed on the surface of the moon.
Procuream's co-founder and CEO, Andrew Chanin, a space investment expert, highlighted the benefits of having multiple public and private contributors on a single mission. "Space agencies, **, and the military have their own goals, and they are willing to work with companies if they can help them achieve their goals with a reasonable level. ”
The launch of Astrobotic's Pleasure Eagle lander, which carried cremated human remains, has received a lot of criticism, notably calls on NASA and the U.S. Department of Transportation to delay the launch. Nygren noted that the moon is sacred to many indigenous cultures, so leaving human remains on the moon is "tantamount to blasphemy."
Unfortunately, while NASA is a partner in these missions, it has no control over what is loaded on commercial lunar landers. "When you're dealing with private companies, there's definitely less control, like NASA does things on its own," Channing said.
Odyssey is just the first of three NOVA-C landers that Intuitive Machines plans to send to the moon this year, and Astrobotic is already looking forward to its next lunar lander the day after its first lander failed. With the grand plan to turn the moon into a launch pad for a space center and further space destinations, it is certain that the lunar environment is about to undergo a dramatic transformation.