The First Private Moon Lander Finishes its Mission, and India Tests its Spaceplane

Happy Tuesday, everyone! This week’s newsletter is 783 words, a 6-minute read.

I’m experimenting with new newsletter formats, so expect a bit of a different (and much better) layout next week.

Table of Contents

• 1 Big Thing: The First Private Moon Lander’s Missi …

• 2. Cool Stuff You Might Have Missed

• 3. India Continues to Test its Prototype Space Pla …

• 4. An Awesome Book (and Author) You Should Check O …

1 Big Thing: The First Private Moon Lander’s Mission is Over

After Successfully Touching Down on the moon and making history as the first ever private moon lander, Intuitive Machines’ Odysseus craft has officially ended its mission.

Over a Month: Odysseus landed successfully near the moon’s south pole on February 22nd, and it’s been there ever since. The lander was on its side, struggling somewhat to charge its batteries since its solar panels were only partially exposed to sunlight. By March 20th, scientists hoped that the lander would receive enough sunlight to wake up from its sleep and call home, but it never did.

Mission Accomplished: Intuitive Machines contracted with SpaceX to launch the lander atop a Falcon 9, along with 12 payloads - 6 for private companies, and 6 for NASA. More important than the payloads was the mission’s landmark achievement itself, whereby a private company successfully landed a spacecraft on the moon.

The Future is Near: Private space companies will inevitably be the backbone of our human space travel programs. If we’re going to have a permanent presence on the moon, we’ll rely on private space companies to support human life on the cold, barren surface. Intuitive Machines’ mission marks a huge first step into the future, where private companies and governments will partner to take us human beings to places where we’ve yet to step foot.

Wild Ride: Intuitive Machines’ stock has been on a rollercoaster the last few months because of this moon mission. The stock (symbol LUNR) settled into a low of $2.11 in January before skyrocketing to about $11 on news of the successful landing. It’s since come back down to $6.15 but is still up over 73% in the last 6 months.

2. Cool Stuff You Might Have Missed

1. Boeing is suing Virgin Galactic over the design of its new suborbital aircraft. (SpaceNews)

2. A new Russian Soyuz crew has docked at the ISS. (CBS)

3. NASA is holding an eclipse briefing today about the upcoming total solar eclipse in April. (Space)

3. India Continues to Test its Prototype Space Plane

India’s Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has been developing and testing a reusable space plane, and just had its 2nd ever successful landing.

Tricky Flying: The spaceplane, called Pushpak, lands completely autonomously, making its own course-corrections and maneuvers along the way. It’s important to note that spaceplanes like this one and the famous Space Shuttle fly like bricks with tiny wings on them, making this landing that much more impressive.

What’s the Point?: Spaceplanes have been somewhat elusive due to their high refurbishment costs and funky physics, but they promise a simple, reusable solution to the problem of frequent spaceflight. ISRO hopes that their Pushpak spaceplane will eventually become part of a two-stage reusable orbital launch system.

How to Land the Space Shuttle: This is one of the best videos for space enthusiasts to watch, period. It’s a simple, beautiful explanation of how the Space Shuttle returned to earth and landed once its mission was complete. It highlights the crazy difficult feat of successfully landing a spaceplane.

4. An Awesome Book (and Author) You Should Check Out

Author Annie Jacobsen has written lots of books on a variety of topics, including Area 51, the CIA, assassins, and World War 2. Her book about the history of Area 51 as a secret military base is an awesome, fascinating read that I know space lovers like me will enjoy. In it, she manages to make nonfiction read like fiction by weaving together stories from interviews and investigations she conducted herself.

Also, Jacobsen has a new book coming out tomorrow (Wednesday, Mar. 27) about Nuclear War. I like her other writing so much that I already pre-ordered the Kindle edition. Her writing style is very in-depth without being overwhelmingly dense, which makes for great, informative reading.

The book has 4.5/5 stars on Amazon with 2,376 reviews. The paperback is on sale for $15 and the Kindle edition is on sale for just $3. Check it out here:

Don’t Forget: If you refer 5 friends to the newsletter, I’ll send you a free copy of Neil deGrasse Tyson’s A Brief Welcome to the Universe. Use the link below to share and get credit for your referrals!

Thanks as always,

-Michael