Caso tudo corra bem, a IM-1 será a primeira missão privada a realizar um pouso suave na Lua
© Getty Images / Notícias ao Minuto Brasil / POR FOLHAPRESS / POR SRS
TECH ESPAÇO-LUA
(FOLHAPRESS) – Lá vamos nós de novo. Na madrugada desta quarta-feira (14) deve começar mais uma missão comercial à Lua -quem sabe a primeira a realizar um pouso bem-sucedido.
O lançamento da IM-1, missão inaugural da empresa Intuitive Machines, de Houston (EUA), dar-se-á por intermédio do consagrado foguete da SpaceX, o Falcon 9. Partindo do Centro Espacial Kennedy, da Nasa, na Flórida, às 2h57 (pelo horário de Brasília), ele colocará o módulo lunar de modelo Nova-C (batizado nesta missão de Odysseus), numa trajetória translunar.
Será a quarta tentativa da iniciativa privada de realizar uma alunissagem bem-sucedida na Lua.
Em 2019, o grupo SpaceIL, de Israel, quase conseguiu, com uma falha a poucos metros da superfície. O mesmo aconteceu com a empresa japonesa ispace, e seu módulo Hakuto-R, em 2023.
A terceira tentativa foi a mais chamativa, no mês passado, quando a empresa americana Astrobotic teve um problema com a ruptura do tanque de combustível que impediu até mesmo a chegada à Lua, levando a espaçonave a concluir sua missão num mergulho no oceano Pacífico.
O que há em comum em todas essas missões é o baixo custo e a busca de inovações que tornem o acesso à superfície lunar mais simples e frequente. É o que explica também os resultados até agora obtidos. Eles contrastam com as tentativas estatais mais recentes de pouso lunar. Das três últimas, promovidas por Rússia, Índia e Japão entre 2023 e 2024, apenas a dos russos fracassou.
Os japoneses tiveram certo dissabor ao ver seu módulo de pouso Slim pousar capotado na superfície, mas ainda assim com funcionalidade suficiente para cumprir sua missão e demonstrar uma alunissagem de alta precisão.
Já a missão indiana Chandrayaan-3 trouxe enorme prestígio ao programa espacial daquele país, ao realizar a primeira descida nas imediações do polo sul lunar.
O Odysseus, da Intuitive Machines, tentará dobrar essa aposta, descendo ainda mais perto que a Chandrayaan-3 do polo sul -a meros 300 km dele, na cratera Malapert A, satélite de outra maior, chamada Malapert, com 69 km de diâmetro.
Há grande ambição na exploração do polo lunar, por causa da detecção de água (na forma de gelo ou de moléculas presas ao solo) no interior de crateras onde a luz solar nunca alcança. Com efeito, o alvo da IM-1 é muito próximo a um dos potenciais sítios de pouso da missão tripulada Artemis 3, com a qual os americanos esperam retomar a exploração da Lua com astronautas ainda nesta década.
O pequeno módulo tem 675 quilos e leva a bordo seis cargas úteis da Nasa, como parte de um programa da agência espacial americana para fomentar missões comerciais de carretos lunares, dos quais ela figuraria como apenas uma das clientes. Pelo transporte de seus instrumentos à superfície da Lua, a agência pagou à Intuitive Machines US$ 118 milhões.
Eles voarão ao lado de outras cargas despachadas por entes privados, que vão de coberturas térmicas a esculturas, passando por uma câmera para ser ejetada e fotografar o pouso em perspectiva. Mas todos os que têm algo a bordo sabem que, como aconteceu com a missão da Astrobotic em janeiro, o risco de falha não é desprezável.
Os instrumentos da Nasa são formados por um sistema de rádio que vai medir fontes astronômicas e o ambiente de plasma na exosfera lunar (a ultratênue, praticamente nula, atmosfera do satélite), um retrorrefletor (instrumento passivo para medição de distância à Lua com laser), um dispositivo para medir velocidade e distância do solo, uma câmera estéreo para observar efeitos da pluma do propulsor sobre o solo na alunissagem, um retransmissor de rádio para localização e um medidor de combustível disponível.
Por sinal, a propulsão é um dos elementos mais interessantes do módulo Nova-C: movida a metano e oxigênio líquidos, ela traz dois desafios consigo: o fato de que exigem uma ignição para disparar e também que exigem temperaturas criogênicas. O mais comum para módulos lunares é a adoção dos chamados propelentes hipergólicos, que se mantêm líquidos em temperatura ambiente e entram em combustão espontânea quando combustível e oxidante se encontram. Embora sejam mais tóxicos e difíceis de lidar em solo, são mais confiáveis quando é preciso reacender o motor diversas vezes no espaço.
Trocando-os por um par como metano e oxigênio criogênicos, o Nova-C ganha mais potência pela quantidade de combustível embarcada, mas também tem uma série de restrições que exigem uma missão rápida. Ocorre que esses propelentes sofrem no espaço o fenômeno conhecido como “boil-off”, eles gradualmente evaporam e escapam dos tanques, e o veículo vai perdendo combustível.
Por essa razão, a SpaceX teve até que adaptar a plataforma de lançamento do Falcon 9 para atender à Intuitive Machines e permitir o abastecimento do pousador imediatamente antes da decolagem. Da mesma forma, a missão precisa rapidamente se encaminhar para a Lua e realizar todas as suas manobras propulsadas antes que o “boil-off” se torne um problema.
Com isso, veremos uma trajetória bem mais rápida que a adotada em outras missões comerciais, como a da japonesa ispace e da americana Astrobotic, que passariam pelo menos um mês no espaço antes do pouso. O Odysseus deve realizar sua tentativa de alunissagem no próximo dia 22, após chegar à órbita lunar e fazer cerca de cem voltas ao redor dela.
Caso tudo corra bem, a IM-1 será a primeira missão privada a realizar um pouso suave na Lua. Até agora apenas agências espaciais tiveram sucesso, e somente as de cinco países: Rússia (então como União Soviética), EUA, China, Índia e Japão.
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