2024-02-28 07:00:13
On February 22, a small ship the size of a telephone booth, called Odysseus, made history by landing on the south pole of the Moon. Built by Houston-based Intuitive Machines, Odysseus became the first lander (A lander in the field of astronautics designates a machine…) American to touch the Moon for more than 50 years and the first private lander to reach the surface (A surface generally refers to the surface layer of an object. The term a…) lunar (For namesakes, see Pierrot Lunar, a work of vocal music by Arnold Schönberg.).
Image NASA
This feat represents a welcome brightening after a series of lunar failures. Indeed, of the nine previous attempts, five ended in failure for various nations and private companies. Shortly before, on January 19, Japan made its first lunar landing with SLIM, although the device found itself in a bad position due to an engine malfunction. Lunar landing attempts by other countries and companies have also failed.
Only government space agencies from five countries have successfully landed on the Moon: the United States, the former Soviet Union, China, India and Japan. To date, only one private company, Intuitive Machines, has succeeded. These failures are a reminder that, even half a century after the Apollo astronauts’ final steps on the Moon, our celestial neighbor remains a difficult and dangerous destination.
Landing on the Moon is a major challenge, including the absence of an atmosphere allowing the use of parachutes to slow down spacecraft. Missions must therefore use systems of propulsion (Propulsion is the principle that allows a body to move in its surrounding space….) powered by fuel (A fuel is a fuel which powers a heat engine. This transforms…) to land, which complicates the reduction of their vitesse (On distingue 🙂 to several kilometers (The meter (symbol m, from the Greek metron, measurement) is the basic unit of length of the System…) par second (Second is the feminine form of the adjective second, which comes immediately after the first or which…) to a perfect stop.
The Apollo program, although ultimately successful, experienced many failures before it succeeded in sending humans to the Moon. These failures are considered part of the process oflearning (Learning is the acquisition of know-how, that is to say the process…)essential to overcome the challenges ofexploration (Exploration is searching with the intention of discovering something unknown.) lunar.
Today’s much lower mission costs significantly increase the risk of failure, but they are essential to making flights affordable. The success of the Odysseus lander represents a significant victory for the commercial space industry, paving the way for more financially accessible future lunar missions.
This feat by Intuitive Machines highlights the growing importance of private companies in space exploration. With much lower mission costs, democratizing access to space will gradually become a reality.
The cost of the Apollo program
The Apollo program, which made history by sending men to the Moon between 1969 and 1972, represents one of the most expensive and ambitious undertakings ever undertaken by humanity. The total cost of the Apollo program was estimated at around $25 billion at the time, which equates to over $150 billion when adjusting for current inflation.
This phenomenal budget included the development of cutting-edge technologies, the construction of gigantic space vehicles like the Saturn V, and the implementation of manned and unmanned missions.
The cost of current lunar missions
Today, lunar exploration is marked by a diversification of the actors involved, including government space agencies and an increasing number of private companies. The cost of missions varies considerably depending on their nature (robotic missions or manned missions), their objectives, and the approach chosen (governmental launches or public-private partnerships).
For example, current robotic lunar missions can cost a few hundred million to a few billion dollars. NASA, through its Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program, has awarded contracts to private companies for amounts ranging from less than 100 million to a few hundred million dollars per mission. These missions aim to send scientific instruments and small payloads to the Moon.
The Starship in its lunar configuration.
Image SpaceX
In April 2021, NASA awarded SpaceX a contract worth $2.89 billion to develop a version of Starship intended to carry astronauts to the surface of the Moon as part of the Artemis program. This contract aims to land astronauts on the Moon for the first time since the end of the Apollo program in 1972.
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