TORRANCE, Calif. — A Torrance-based company called Scorpius Space Launch Company was the small team of engineers that designed the jet propulsion fuel tanks that were part of lunar lander Odysseus’ design.
What You Need To Know
- This is the first time in over 50 years that the U.S. has participated in space missions
- According to NASA, Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C lander, called Odysseus, completed a seven-day journey to lunar orbit and executed procedures to softly land near Malapert A in the South Pole region of the Moon Thursday
- Scorpius Space Launch Company, who made the fuel tanks, said The Nova-C is powered by two propellant tanks filled with liquid Methane and Liquid Oxygen and were built by SSLC using its Pressurmaxx Type-V all-composite cryogenic tank technology
CEO of Scorpius, Markus Rufer, says the fuel tanks his team has been designing since 2008 were once thought to be impossible, but the team had a trick up its sleeve.
“We were mostly running on belief,” Rufer said. “The big players in this field did not believe at the time that this was actually doable. And of course, there’s no higher mark to hit than not just going to space, but actually landing on the moon. I mean, does it get any better than that?”
The Scorpius team gathered around a monitor and cheered wildly when it was announced that Odysseus had successfully landed on the moon.