This high-res image was taken from the surface of the Moon by ILOA’s ILO-X wide field-of-view imager at ~00:30 UTC on 25 February 2024. It shows portions of the lunar landscape, regolith / dust, the Sun, and the IM-1 Odysseus lunar lander.
29 February 2024, Kamuela HI (29 February 2024 UTC) --- International Lunar Observatory Association (ILOA Hawai’i) is not just over the Moon, but ON THE MOON, having had its precursor ILO-X instruments land and operate from the lunar surface aboard the Intuitive Machines IM-1 Mission Nova-C class lunar lander named Odysseus. The ILO-X payload includes a miniaturized dual-camera wide and narrow field-of-view lunar imaging suite.
“We are very appreciative of Intuitive Machines and our ILO-X payload developer / contractor Canadensys Aerospace Corporation for their professionalism and perseverance during this historic lunar mission,” states ILOA Director Steve Durst.
The ILO-X wide field-of-view (WFoV) image was taken at ~00:30 UTC on 25 February 2024 and shows the Sun high in the field-of-view, the lunar surface on the left side, as well as the Intuitive Machines Odysseus lunar lander. This image from the Moon reveals the ILO-X wide field-of-view’s orientation on the Moon, which regrettably does not include the Milky Way Galaxy. Nonetheless, ILOA is delighted to have received its first Moon surface picture.
This image from ILOA’s ILO-X wide field-of-view imager was taken on 22 February 2024 about 4.2 minutes prior to touchdown which occurred 23:24 UTC. It shows craters in the Moon South Pole region as well as the IM-1 Odysseus lunar lander.
One of the images (shown above) from the ILO-X WFoV during Deorbit, Descent and Landing (DDL) shows the lunar surface, craters and dramatic shadows of the Moon South Pole region, and part of the Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C spacecraft in high-resolution.
To date, ILOA has received 9 high-resolution and 105 thumbnail images from the ILO-X imagers which will be shared as soon as the data has been processed internally.
There may also be a last-minute opportunity for instrument contractors at Canadensys to try and image the lunar surface with the ILO-X WFoV before the instruments are powered down.
The ILOA international team of 28 Directors will celebrate the successes achieved from this mission so far, including raising awareness for our future ILO-1 mission to Malapert Mountain.
ILOA Hawai’i is working toward the long-term goal of permanent astronomy / observations and communications from the Moon with the ILO-1 lunar observatory and to share images of the Milky Way Galaxy Stars with the 8 Billion people of Earth.
© Copyright 29 February 2024, International Lunar Observatory Association, all rights reserved.