WATCH | Odysseus lunar lander moon landing

NASA is preparing for the first uncrewed commercial moon landing in the U.S.

The Odysseus lunar lander is projected to land at 4:24 p.m. on Thursday near the South Pole region of the moon.

It is part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative and Artemis campaign.

The Odysseus was launched on Feb. 16 from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. It is carrying out several experiments, including technology developed right here in Clevland at the NASA Glenn Research Center.

Over the past 15 years, the Radio Frequency Mass Gauge has been designed to measure the amount of fuel in spacecraft while in micro-gravity. Erin Pisciotta, an Engineering Project Manager at NASA Glenn, says to think of it like the gas gauge in your car.

“When you're on Earth, gravity helps out quite a bit and the fluid in your gas tank stays level for the most part, and you're able to get a reading that way,” explains Pisciotta. “However, when you're in space, there's no gravity. The liquids on the walls, there are bubbles forming, so it's really hard to use the same type of gauging system.”

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