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Gazing at February’s full moon, which will light up the night sky this weekend, may feel a little more special than usual after a stunning moon landing.
Just a week after launch, Intuitive Machines’ uncrewed IM-1 lander, also referred to as Odysseus or “Odie,” successfully touched down near the Moon’s south pole Thursday night.
It was a historical moment. This milestone marked the first soft landing of a commercial spacecraft on the moon and the first U.S.-made spacecraft to reach the lunar surface since Apollo 17 in 1972.
But Odie’s journey was anything but expected, and the spacecraft experienced a “dynamic situation” that forced mission team members to think quickly to avoid disaster.
Watching the webcast of the landing felt as dramatic as watching a space thriller, and it was a reminder of why landing on the moon remains so difficult, more than 50 years after humanity achieved the feat.
month update
Hours before Odie’s landing, the spacecraft experienced an unexpected navigation system problem that could have prevented a safe landing.
Fortunately, the lander was carrying NASA’s Navigation Doppler Lidar. The sensor was on Odie as a technology experiment that would help future landers make precision landings, sending lasers to the surface to find a safe landing zone.
Experimental technology ultimately saved the day and played a key role in unlocking the monumental achievement.
Although Odie landed sideways after hitting one of its feet on a lunar rock, the spacecraft remains stable, can charge its solar panels, and has already accomplished some key mission goals.
fantasy creatures
Vultures are often thought of as dirty animals, but these misunderstood birds help keep the planet as clean as their own feathers.
“Vultures are meticulous about cleanliness,” said Kerri Wolter, founder and CEO of conservation group VulPro in South Africa. “They spend hours cleaning their feathers after feeding, because these feathers need to be arranged and cleaned very well in order to fly. They do not flap their wings like other birds, they glide.”
Vultures effectively remove dead animals and prevent the accumulation of bacteria that can cause disease outbreaks in other animals and humans. Their stomachs are capable of destroying even anthrax.
However, some vulture species in sub-Saharan Africa are critically endangered due to poisoning and hunting; so conservationists are eager to provide a sanctuary for the most malignant birds.
curious things
When a 280-million-year-old ancient reptile fossil was found in the Italian Alps in 1931, researchers thought it was an exceptionally well-preserved specimen.
The dark color of the lizard-like animal’s remains resembled soft tissue and skin that may contain biological information that could be used to understand how early reptiles evolved.
But a new and improved analysis revealed that the fossil was largely a fake. The dark color consists of black paint covering the scales and several leg bones set into the carved rock.
Now the team has a new puzzle: figuring out exactly what kind of creature is trapped inside the rock.
watch the sky
The crash of a 5,000-pound European Space Agency satellite to Earth this week was an example of how much space debris surrounds the planet.
It is estimated that approximately 30,000 objects larger than a softball are hurtling several hundred miles above the Earth at speeds 10 times faster than a bullet.
As governments and private companies launch thousands of satellites in the future, astronomers worry that light pollution from all objects in low Earth orbit will affect scientists’ ability to study the universe.
A new mission has been launched to take a closer look at space debris, such as an abandoned rocket stage, and determine the best and safest way to remove it from orbit.
ocean secrets
Scientists first heard whale songs underwater more than 50 years ago, and how the giants produce these echoing sounds has long puzzled researchers until today.
Baleen whales, such as the humpback whale or minke whale, have a uniquely shaped voice box in their throat that allows the cetacean to make sounds and take in large amounts of air when it surfaces.
Their songs, both eerie and fascinating, allow whales to find each other and mate in the dark depths of the ocean.
But because whales must breathe to transmit their sounds, low-frequency sounds can only be made 328 feet (100 meters) from the surface, and the roar of man-made ships poses a major impediment to whale communication.
Great
These stories may blow your mind:
— Astronomers have detected the brightest known object in the universe, and it’s powered by the fastest-growing black hole ever observed.
— Researchers have uncovered a striking fossil of a 240-million-year-old marine reptile, and the mysterious creature resembled a legendary Chinese dragon.
— Forgotten artifacts in the collection of a Berlin museum reveal that Neanderthals probably made adhesives that helped them grip stone tools; This suggests that these ancient human ancestors were capable of complex thinking.
— Although it is not yet possible for humans to board a spacecraft to Mars, NASA is looking for volunteers to live and work in a Mars simulator for a year.
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