Manx tech onboard recent private space mission to the moon
An historic space mission which took place last month had a Manx twist.
The unmanned lunar lander - nicknamed Odysseus - built by US company Intuitive Machines successfully landed on the surface of the moon last month after a 384,400km (238,855 mile) journey through space.
It was the second commercial mission to be funded by the space agency NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) through its CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative.
ARTEMIS
The initiative aims to create a 'lunar economy' to support its Artemis campaign.
That project collaborates with commercial and international partners in the hopes they can 'establish the first long-term presence on the moon' - including a base camp where astronauts will live and work.
NASA then hopes to use what they learn there to 'take the next giant leap: sending the first astronauts to Mars'.
ODYSSEUS
The Odysseus landing made Intuitive Machines the first commercial company to successfully land a spacecraft on the lunar surface since Apollo 17 in 1972.
It took off from Cape Canaveral in Florida on 15 February on top of a Falcon 9 rocket, made by Elon Musk's SpaceX company, and landed over a week later on 23 February.
If you watched along live, you'd know there was a tense wait for the team during its landing process as communications were lost with the vehicle.
However, it was then confirmed it had landed near the moon's south pole, was intact and was transmitting back to Earth.
NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter captured this image of Odysseus, on the Moon’s surface on 24 February CREDIT: NASA/Goddard/Arizona State University
The spacecraft had equipment from six commercial customers on board, including a small data storage device from Lonestar Data Holdings, the US parent company of Island-based Eayst Noa Ltd.
MANX ON THE MOON
Chris Stott is the founder, chair, and chief executive of Eayst Noa Ltd - a data storage solutions provider based in Douglas and Lonestar Data Holdings based in Florida.
Named after the Manx for 'new moon' the firm is hoping to create a system to back up the planet's data, based on the moon.
And its payload on board even contained a Manx flag!
Chris told Manx Radio's Christy DeHaven the mission builds on 25 years of work done on the Isle of Man:
And you can hear more from Chris and Christy in Island Life on Tuesday 2 April at 6pm, or as a podcast afterwards.
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