Odysseus has already made a bit of history on its journey through space.
The vehicle is powered by a single engine that is fueled by liquid oxygen, or LOX, and liquid methane, which are tricky propellants because they have to remain at super-chilled temperatures.
The spacecraft is also the first to ever use those fuels while in orbit.
Last week offered some nail-biting moments when Intuitive Machines opted to delay the first attempt to ignite the engine, which was expected the afternoon of February 15, saying communications outages were impacting ground controllers' ability to collect crucial data about how this novel engine performed.
But onlookers breathed a sigh of relief the next day when Intuitive Machines confirmed the engine came to life without a hitch.
But why did the company take a chance on using these propellants for such a risky mission? Intuitive Machines cites two reasons for the choice:
- Engines using these fuels can be much more powerful than some alternatives. They allow the spacecraft to make a quicker and more direct trip to the moon and avoid more radiation-riddled environments in space that could take a toll on the vehicle.
- Intuitive Machines is also intrigued by the possibility that methane could be harvested in space, allowing for the possibility that its landers could be refueled on future missions, said Trent Martin, Intuitive Machines’ vice president of space systems, at a news conference.