America is Back on the Moon, With a Twist!

Frontier Focus Newsletter

Your Comprehensive Guide to the New Space Economy

G. Pettit here, 

Welcome to the 11th edition of the Frontier Focus Newsletter, your top source for political, economic, and social developments in the New Space Economy and other emerging markets.

From breaking industry news and event announcements, to labor market reports and financial analysis, the glorious future has never been closer, nor a more entertaining read! Our mission is to collect and distill only the most newsworthy, exciting, and inspirational info for your weekly updates on the Second Space Age.

Join us on this journey into new frontiers.

This Week’s Next-Gen Newsflash

🚀 India prepares for its first human-rated spacecraft launch with a test planned for this summer, and the announcement of its first national astronauts

🛰️ More leaks on the International Space Station continue to siphon air volume, and the culprit is the usual suspect.

☄️ Mars continue to live up to its reputation as a budget-breaking destination, with yet more critique on the viability of NASA’s ambitious Mars Sample Return project

State of the New Space Economy

1) America is Back on the Moon, With a Twist!

50 long years after the United States last landed on the Moon with Apollo 17 in 1972, Houston-based Intuitive Machines has brought the Stars and Stripes back to the lunar regolith.

The historic landing of the robotic Odysseus also represented the first ever successful soft-landing by a private corporation on the surface of the Moon, officially marking the birth of the lunar economy. But is this birth premature?

Barely a week after the lander made touchdown on February 22nd, Intuitive Machines has confirmed a planned shutdown of Odysseus in preparation for an upcoming lunar night that would have deprived the craft of its solar energy sources to remain powered. While intended, it is unknown if the spacecraft will awaken again, given its chaotic landing.

The farewell follows a tense touchdown in which the lander was confirmed to have tipped onto its side, minimizing the effect of its solar panels to properly power the craft. None too different from Japan’s first ever successful landing on the Moon back in January 19th, when its SLIM robotic lander fell over due to a nonfunctioning engine ignition during the touchdown sequence.

Lately, lunar landings have been fraught with total or partial mission failures. In 2019, the Israeli spacecraft Beresheet attempted to claim the same titles that Odysseus has nearly 5 years earlier, but was destroyed before getting the chance. In 2023 alone, both Russia and Japan (through private company iSpace) attempted sending their own craft, only to fall the same fate. US-based Astrobotic was in the running to beat intuitive machines to the punch in January 2024, only for their private lander to suffer a leak mere hours after launch, terminating the mission early, along with the hopes of the hundreds of people that created it.

One thing’s certain: landing on the Moon is not as easy as it looks, and any would-be lunar economy is dependent on the success of hundreds of new landers to the point of routine; akin to the way rocket launches are viewed today.

The task ahead is challenging, and pressure on the American-led Artemis program has manifested in more delays and budgetary critique that could have strong ramifications in this new space race.

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