Intuitive Machines IM-1 mission, CLPS mission with NASA and commercial payloads Options

[Phil Stooke]

I am starting a new thread for this mission which should fly this year.

Phil

[Thorsten Denk]

Any rough idea about the date (month)?

Thorsten

[mcaplinger]

Any rough idea about the date (month)?

IM was saying 1Q 2022 but recently tweeted "Intuitive Machines’ IM-1 mission launch is moving outside of Q1 2022 to later this year. We will provide updates as they become available."

[Phil Stooke]

https://twitter.com/Columbia1938/status/1494818072376614927

This tweet suggests a summer 2022 launch date for IM-1, about a 3 or 4 month delay. I can't vouch for the veracity of the tweet, but other commentators say near the end of the year, so this is more encouraging.

Phil

[mcaplinger]

As of 3/25/2022, https://spaceflightnow.com/launch-schedule/ says 3Q 2022 and https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/...on?id=IM-1-NOVA says "mid to late 2022".

[Phil Stooke]

IM-1 likely near the end of the year now (Q4 according to a chart at the Lunar Surface Science Workshop now underway).

News from that LSSW meeting, only 30 minutes old as I type: Lunar Flashlight, a cubesat designed to survey volatiles in shadows at the south pole, was to fly on Artemis-1 but is now - this is the news - manifested as a secondary payload on the IM-1 Falcon 9. Stated by Barbara Cohen at the meeting.

Phil

[Phil Stooke]

Set to launch on 22 December (this year...) according to NASA:

https://www.nasa.gov/launchschedule/

Phil

[Phil Stooke]

https://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/leag2022/pdf/5027.pdf

This link goes to an abstract for the upcoming LEAG annual meeting. The abstract is a summary of the CLPS program so far.

For me the most intriguing thing is a brief reference to the Intuitive Machines IM-1 mission (launch late 2022) which says that it will land in Mare Crisium.

The last statement from Intuitive Machines themselves is that the landing site is on the Aristarchus Plateau. There was an LPSC abstract on mapping the landing site. Their orbital debris (ODAR) report said they would land between Mare Serenitatis and Mare Crisium. I took that to be a simple mixup between east and west longitudes with the real target still at Aristarchus. But now this puzzling statement!

So, is the landing site the Aristarchus Plateau, or Mare Serenitatis (which was stated by Intuitive at LEAG a couple of years ago) or somewhere between Serenitatis and Crisium, or in Crisium itself? Does 'between Serenitatis and Crisium' mean somewhere in the middle, or does it mean that the choice is between Serenitatis and Crisium?

It's like trying to follow Chang'e 4. Maybe we will get clarification at the meeting. I will report on it.

Phil

[antipode]

Perhaps a bit O/T but from that paper Phil posted we get this:

TO CP12 (PRISM1B): Two PRISM payload suites
are included in the delivery to Schrödinger Basin on the
lunar farside in 2025. Instruments include long-lived
seismometers [8], a heat flow drill with a
magnetotelluric sounder investigating the subsurface.
TO CS3 (Science): This science delivery is
planning to land at the farside mid-latitudes in 2025.
Low-frequency radio astronomy with standalone
operations through the night will be performed

Whats the plan for data relay for these farside missions?

another Phil

[Phil Stooke]

Several possibilities are being discussed. Commercial relay services are being considered separate from CLPS, and also relay services provided by the CLPS mission, by release of a relay satellite into orbit before landing or as a rideshare. Relay via the Gateway is also possible.

Phil

[Phil Stooke]

See more here:

https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Hum...around_the_Moon

https://www.sstl.co.uk/what-we-do/lunar-mission-services

Phil

[Phil Stooke]

Here is the announcement of the Schrodinger mission:

https://www.draper.com/press-release/nasa-a...loads-moon-2025

It says the mission will deploy two small relay satellites in lunar orbit.

Phil

[Phil Stooke]

And back to IM-1, here is Jeff Foust retweeting (from Thomas Zurbuchen) its expected launch date as January 2023:


https://twitter.com/jeff_foust/status/1550220907607629831


so upcoming lunar launches (no earlier than dates) as currently stated:

Artemis 1 end of August/early September carrying several lunar and other cubesats*

ispace Hakuto-R to Atlas crater c. November 2022

Astrobotic PM-1 to Lacus Mortis c. December 2022 (they are still giving this likely date, others might expect a slip)

Intuitive Machines IM-1 to Aristarchus Plateau (probably, despite some confusion in various statements) c. January 2023


* I assume talk of Artemis 1 and future Artemis missions will be outside our scope here on UMSF, but the small cubesat missions should be OK. One will attempt a landing, the Japanese OMOTENASHI mission. It is only a tech demo but will still be interesting to watch.


Phil

[Phil Stooke]

https://twitter.com/SpcPlcyOnline/status/1560343096533176324

A tweet from Marcia Smith at the Planetary Science Division Town Hall, with a graphic of CLPS missions. Once again IM-1 is said to be landing at Mare Crisium. Not a squeak out of Intuitive, though - and I have asked them via their somewhat ineffective website. Come on, IM, you can do better than this.

Phil

[mcaplinger]

OT but given Masten's recent bankruptcy I'm surprised to see them still listed.

[Phil Stooke]

Yes, surprising. Strictly speaking the mission is not cancelled but its chance of proceeding is very small, as far as I can see.

Phil

[Phil Stooke]

Ghe Intuitive Machines website:

https://www.intuitivemachines.com/

has just undergone a redesign, making it much more useful in advance of its first mission. There is a list of payloads:

https://www.intuitivemachines.com/_files/ug...34a345969ab.pdf

and clearly it is being set up to support the upcoming flight. No word still on landing sites, but I am thinking they are probably keeping several in play until the launch, so a delay of a day or two in launch allows them to shift to the west to maintain an early morning landing. If that is the case it makes sense to start in the west (Crisium) so later landings can go to Serenitatis or Aristarchus Plateau as needed. Basically the same strategy as the first Apollo landings used.

Phil

[Olympusmonsuk]

Ghe Intuitive Machines website:

https://www.intuitivemachines.com/

has just undergone a redesign, making it much more useful in advance of its first mission. There is a list of payloads:

https://www.intuitivemachines.com/_files/ug...34a345969ab.pdf

and clearly it is being set up to support the upcoming flight. No word still on landing sites, but I am thinking they are probably keeping several in play until the launch, so a delay of a day or two in lunch allows them to shift to the west to maintain an early morning landing. If that is the case it makes sense to start in the west (Crisium) so later landings can go to Serenitatis or Aristarchus Plateau as needed. Basically the same strategy as the first Apollo landings used.

Phil

Phil why would a LUNCH delay alter the landing site?

[Phil Stooke]

It's a very important meal. You can't just grab a sandwich from Pret.

Phil


(Oh, OK, I'll fix it)

[Phil Stooke]

Aha - now we have real news.

https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/09/in-...will-go-public/

Apart from the funding aspect of that article, at the end there is a statement that NASA has requested a south polar landing instead of a near-equatorial one. Re-planning the trajectory and so on has caused a delay to March 2023 for launch.

Elsewhere there was a comment that a 4th IM mission will be purely commercial, not a CLPS mission. 'Commercial' in this sense should be taken to include the possibility of a flight on behalf of another nation's space agency as well as purely business-oriented partners. (No, I don't have any special knowledge of the situation, but I am so used to seeing comments that no commercial clients have deep enough pockets that I wanted to point out that possibility. UAE is already flying a rover on a Japanese mission and looking at a similar arrangement with China, and Canada wants to fly a lunar mission, so there are candidates already known and could easily be more).

Phil

[Phil Stooke]

Intuitive update. At the Lunar Surface Science Workshop yesterday, Jack Burns gave a presentation on ROLSES, an instrument on IM-1. It identified the landing site quite precisely, just east of the very degraded crater Malapert A. The coordinates are 80.31 S, 1.24 E. Flight now expected in the later part of the 3rd quarter of this year (c. September).

Phil

[Phil Stooke]

This is the landing site for IM-1 as currently understood. It looks like the lander has been boxed up for transport to KSC.

Phil

[mcaplinger]

Mission slipped to mid-January: https://spaceflightnow.com/2023/10/27/intui...in-mid-january/

[Phil Stooke]

If there are no more delays (a big IF, certainly) Astrobotic's lander will launch before IM-1, currently aiming for 24 December. If Intuitive Machines launches on 12 January the landings would actually happen close together, round about the 19th of January, and SLIM is also set to land at the same time.

It is possible that we will see three landing attempts in a single week. If we assume every landing happens about 2 days after sunrise (so descent imaging is not too complicated by shadows) they would occur in the order of increasing west longitude, i.e. SLIM, then Intuitive, then Astrobotic. Dates might be roughly January 18, 20 and 23 (Thursday, Saturday, Tuesday).

[Thorsten Denk]

Astrobotic seems to be Jan 25.
https://twitter.com/SpaceflightNow/status/1...942846130606349

Thorsten

[Phil Stooke]

Yes, they are landing 4 days after sunrise and aiming for a 10 day mission, so my working assumption of landing 2 days after sunrise put me 2 days out.

Phil

[Thorsten Denk]

It will be interesting to see if the other dates hold.
If so, there would still be three landings within one week (seven days)!
Thorsten

[Phil Stooke]

The landings look different now! SLIM in January still, but with Astrobotic and Intuitive both delayed a month, they could both land in the same week, around 20-23 February.

Phil

[Phil Stooke]

The Intuitive Machines IM-1 lander has been named Odysseus.

https://twitter.com/Int_Machines/status/1738205371481595985

Phil

[Thorsten Denk]

Final preparations underway for launch of first Intuitive Machines lunar lander (by Jeff Foust)
https://spacenews.com/final-preparations-un...s-lunar-lander/

There is not yet an official specific date for the launch, only "a three-day launch period for the mission in mid-February".
It might be NET Feb14.
Landing attempt on the Moon, if launched this month, will be Feb22.

Thorsten

[Decepticon]

Does this lander contain the drill as originally proposed?

I do not see this instrument listed in recent posts.

[Phil Stooke]

The Trident drill is on IM-2 later in the year.

Phil

[Thorsten Denk]

Btw, the launch will be Wednesday Feb 14, at 05:57 UTC.
For the Americans, this is the night Tue to Wed, 12:57 AM EST.
In less than 1½ days!

Thorsten

[Phil Stooke]

Delayed now, to the 15th.

Phil

[Thorsten Denk]

Yes, and 8 minutes later.
Feb 15 at 06:05 UTC now.

Thorsten

[Phil Stooke]

Frustrating to me... Intuitive Machines has not released a definitive map of their landing site (welcome to the world of commercial lunar exploration... Astrobotic didn't either). This screenshot from Quickmap shows three locations defined by coordinates, from an LSSW presentation, a PSAC presentation and the LROC website, and also a box showing the location of an LRO image at:

https://www.lroc.asu.edu/posts/1321


Remember that the image background on Quickmap can contain registration errors. But that's not enough to account for all this variation. The LRO site is much smoother than the points further south.

Phil

[Hungry4info]

Launch has occurred and IM-1 is currently in a parking orbit before TLI burn.

Edit: Separation from Falcon 9. Gorgeous views.

Attached thumbnail(s)

 

[Thorsten Denk]

Is there any information if they have successfully established radio contact with the lander and that everything is nominal?

Thorsten

[Explorer1]

At the end of the NASA stream, yes there was a callout of data packets coming in. Some clapping too.

[Ron Hobbs]

"IM-1 mission Nova-C class lunar lander has launched on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket and successfully commissioned in space by establishing a stable attitude, solar charging, and radio communications contact with the Company’s mission operations center in Houston."

Intiuitive Machines Update

[cIclops]

data link screenshot: https://twitter.com/amsatdl/status/1758175702724030899

live stream: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pPBCIpVGsM

[Thorsten Denk]

Is the landing time already publicly known?
The date is in one week, Feb22.
But what hour?

Thorsten

[kenny]

I have also been wondering that... I want to put an alert in my diary.
As has already been noted, this private mission is less forthcoming than NASA or some other governmental missions.

[kenny]

SpaceflightNow is stating the landing will be late on Feb. 22.... hardly very precise, but at least provides some definition around the landing time....

" The mission, dubbed IM-1, lifted off at 1:05 a.m. EST (0605 UTC) at Launch Complex 39A. It kicks off a roughly eight-day journey to the Moon, culminating in a landing late in the day on Feb. 22."


IM-1 mission outline

The critical first engine firing (commissioning burn) is coming up in an hour so at about midnight Feb. 15 UTC. (19:00 ET).

"Once the lander completes the engine commissioning, there are up to three trajectory correction maneuvers that are short firings of just a second or two. That’s followed by the lunar orbit insertion (LOI) burn, which lasts about seven minutes.

The lander will then fly in a circular, low lunar orbit (LLO) of 100 kilometers above the Moon’s surface for about 24 hours, which is followed by the descent orbit insertion (DOI), which comes about 75 minutes ahead of landing. "

[kymani76]

The LROC DTM and rectified orthophotos of the Malapert A landing site are available from LROC website.

[nogal]

Intuitive Machines just issued a 4-page PDF file with a Vehicle Health Update.

Link: https://www.intuitivemachines.com/_files/ug...4e566d8e2f0.pdf

They are preparing for the engine commissioning manoeuvre.
Fernando

[kenny]

Update on IM-1

The engine commissioning burn due last night was delayed.
It seems it has not yet happened.

IM-1 update Feb 16 2024

The IM-1 mission Nova-C class lunar lander continues to be in excellent health, in a stable
orientation and remains on schedule for a lunar landing opportunity on the afternoon of
February 22. The original mission structure allocated a Commission Maneuver (CM) and three
trajectory correction maneuvers to position for Lunar Orbit Insertion. This approach provided
flexibility in the mission’s engine burn schedule to allow for learning as we operate the lander
in the vacuum of space. Adjusting for this learning process is why the team chose to delay the
burn on February 15.
Communication delays and outages are expected when executing lunar missions, which we
accounted for in our mission planning. While preparing for the CM burn last night, flight controllers
experienced intermittent uplink and downlink data communications between Nova-C and the
ground stations, potentially impacting our ability to collect the critical information required to
support the CM burn and follow-on performance analysis.
As we prepared for the first-ever in-space ignition of a liquid methane and liquid oxygen engine,
we reviewed our Earth-based test data against the data we’ve accumulated in space. The inspace performance demonstrated that it takes longer to chill the liquid oxygen feed line than
the Earth-based testing. After understanding the in-space liquid oxygen feedline requirements,
we adjusted and uploaded the CM burn preparation timeline and increased the onboard event
sequence timer.
Again, the IM-1 mission Nova-C class lunar lander is in excellent health, and we expect to continue
to provide mission updates at least once a day.

[kymani76]

Landing site map. We are in polar terrain, there are lots of shadows.

[kymani76]

Wider view colored with elevation.

[Phil Stooke]

https://twitter.com/Int_Machines/status/1758677812217545020

That burn has been done successfully now.

Phil

[Thorsten Denk]

https://twitter.com/Int_Machines/status/1758677819310104891

"...lunar landing opportunity on the afternoon of February 22."

I suppose that this is US time, so for Europe it should be in the (late) evening.
With the Moon well over the horizon.

I love to see the Moon during a Lunar landing,
just the imagination that this happens AT THIS MOMENT RIGHT THERE!

Thorsten

[Hungry4info]

First pics -- wow! (from their website)

Attached thumbnail(s)

 

[nogal]

As Phil noted, the burn went well and the "engine firing included a full thrust mainstage engine burn and throttle down-profile necessary to land on the Moon" (see entry on this page https://www.intuitivemachines.com/im-1 .
The third image from Hungry4info's post shows most of Australia. I wonder what the Earth-Moon trajectory looks like in 3D...
Fernando

​

[Explorer1]

Some neat images released into a movie in this video (but strobe warning!). Looks like all is going well so far.

[AJAW]

First pics -- wow! (from their website)

What is the very small, roundish bright thing (floating against the black background) visible in three of the images?

[Hungry4info]

If I'm thinking of the object you are, it's the upper stage of the rocket that launched it.

[Explorer1]

Yes, in the first image a few minutes after separation, it's very obvious!
First trajectory correction manouvre was nominal (and they are promising daily updates).

[Thorsten Denk]

Lunar Landing is planned for Thursday Feb 22 at 22:49 UTC.
Lunar Orbit Insertion one day before. Hour I don't know.

Thorsten

[nogal]

All seems to continue to go well for the IM-1 mission. The 1st and 2nd TCMs were so successful that the 3rd TCM is not needed and was cancelled.

See https://www.intuitivemachines.com/im-1

Today is Lunar Orbit Insertion, at about 100km altitude. Odysseus is supposed to make about 12 2-hour orbits before attempting landing.
From this orbit it will descend to 10km, which takes about an hour, followed by powered descent. So I'm guessing that LOI will be around 21:00 UTC today.

The details above, along with a wealth of other information, are in the PRESS KIT (https://www.intuitivemachines.com/im-1?ligh...taItem-ls22wsqq)

Fernando
PS - I hope the sky is clear!

[Thorsten Denk]

According to Jonathan McDowell, the first perilune is today at 14:40 UTC.
https://twitter.com/planet4589/status/1760180109925929154

"IM-1 is now inside the lunar gravitational sphere of influence and heading towards a 100 km perilune at 1440 UTC"
"I estimate the lunar orbit insertion burn needs a delta-V of 600 m/s"

I suppose that LOI will be done at perilune (?)

Thorsten

[Thorsten Denk]

LOI successful!
https://twitter.com/Int_Machines/status/1760323743270756500
Thorsten

[nogal]

So, Jonathan McDowell was right and I'm very happy that another difficult step is behind Odysseus!
Now, to keep the landing time, either more orbits are needed or the orbital period is much longer than the 2 hours I understood from the Press kit.Given that the 92 km circular orbit is a bit lower than the one originally mentioned, perhaps the former?
Fernando

[Phil Stooke]

https://twitter.com/Int_Machines/status/1760426223073734704

Pic from orbit!

Phil

[nogal]

Update to the landing time. An earlier opportunity at 22:30 UTC



Fernando

[Hungry4info]

Updated landing time again. https://twitter.com/Int_Machines/status/1760703551766933872
15:24 CST

Note that this is an hour earlier than all the earlier expected landing times, for everyone planning their day around this. Perhaps they're coming down an orbit early. Not sure.

[Hungry4info]

Updated landing time again. https://twitter.com/Int_Machines/status/1760748848991903878
17:24 CST

Note that this is an hour later than the original expected landing times, for everyone planning their day around this.

[Explorer1]

Live stream started

[Hungry4info]

Apparently the lander's laser altimeter isn't working. They're involving some other NASA assets (I didn't quite follow how exactly) to compensate.

[Explorer1]

It's the NDL tech demo (apparently not a demo now!) They really want to land now rather than troubleshoot.

[nogal]

Just minutes from PDI. About 10km altirude and 1100km downrange...

[Hungry4info]

PDI has started and is going well. NDL is working!
(Thanks, Explorer1, for helping clarify the situation)

[nogal]

PDI ended, now in terminal descent.. 2 mins to touchdown

[Hungry4info]

It's been on the ground for a few minutes now but no contact.

[B Bernatchez]

On the lunar surface!

[Pavel]

They are getting faint signal.

[nogal]

Broadcast has ended. Last coments pointed to a successful landing, so congratulations to all the teams.
Now, lets wait for those "3rd person view" images!

[marsbug]

Per multiple fairly reliable interested social media accounts (including AMSAT -DL who are actively tracking the signal themselves) and following updates over on NASASpaceflight : A weak signal has been received from the lander on the surface. There was an 8 degree roll excursion towards the end of the EDL. Palms up I am only guessing, but wonder if the roll in question was one to get the lander in the right orientation for landing - in which case the antenna's pointing might be off, perhaps accounting for the weak signal (this is Scott Manley's suggestion).
Not perfect perhaps, but promising.

[JTN]

DSN Now currently has the big Madrid antenna engaged with "LND1" = "Lunar Node 1" at the moon, which I gather is an IM-1 payload. (Not showing any signal right now, for the avoidance of doubt.)

There's also a DSN-Now-like live status page for the GHY-6/Merlin antenna at Goonhilly (Cornwall, UK) which is involved (possibly the primary antenna?) for the IM-1 mission, and was mentioned on the webcast.

[Hungry4info]

Update!

After troubleshooting communications, flight controllers have confirmed Odysseus is upright and starting to send data.
Right now, we are working to downlink the first images from the lunar surface.

Congratulations to all involved!

[Phil Stooke]

I am really looking forward to these images! And confirmation of the exact landing point.

Phil

[xflare]

from reading twittr this morning, some are having some doubts over how successfuly IM-1 landed.

[Thorsten Denk]

The antenna simply might point into the wrong direction.
https://twitter.com/coastal8049/status/1760926397168546247

Thorsten

[Quetzalcoatl]

Bonjour,

Really !!!

https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/02/a-lit...estions-remain/

[Huguet]

Can China help with the Queqiao-1 or with the Queqiao-2 satellites? If Antenna direction is the problem.

[Explorer1]

Politics aside, they must be very incompatible systems. There's no equivalent to MRO for relaying at the moon (LRO can only make photos).

[Thorsten Denk]

And Queqiao-1 is on L2, behind the Moon.
The antenna, if it points wrong, might be a few 10s degrees off, not 180°.
Not to mention that Queqiao-1 would be below the horizon for IM-1.

Thorsten

[Huguet]

And Queqiao-1 is on L2, behind the Moon.
The antenna, if it points wrong, might be a few 10s degrees off, not 180°.
Not to mention that Queqiao-1 would be below the horizon for IM-1.

Thorsten

Yes, i was thinking more about Queqiao-2 that is already at the launch site, awaiting launch. If the mission profile can be adapted to include helping IM-1.

[MichaelJWP]

Appears a little more hopeful today in this latest tweet:

"Lunar Surface Day One Update (23FEB2024 0818 CST)
Odysseus is alive and well. Flight controllers are communicating and commanding the vehicle to download science data. The lander has good telemetry and solar charging.
We continue to learn more about the vehicle’s specific information (Lat/Lon), overall health, and attitude (orientation). Intuitive Machines CEO Steve Altemus will participate in a press conference later today to discuss this historic moment. Press conference information will be coordinated with NASA and published shortly."

Twitter Link

Though no photos yet ...

[Thorsten Denk]

They for sure will keep the photos for the press conference.

[JTN]

According to NASA, said press conference is scheduled for 2200 UTC (5pm EST).

[Hungry4info]

Yes, i was thinking more about Queqiao-2 that is already at the launch site, awaiting launch. If the mission profile can be adapted to include helping IM-1.

Queqiao-2 won't be in position soon enough. IM-1's mission is only expected to last a week, and it isn't expected to survive the lunar night.

[Thorsten Denk]

And even if it were, it would be a "moving target".
If finding the Earth alrady is difficult, what then about a fast moving satellite?

Btw, Press Conference at 22:00 UTC.

And the EagleCam is alive, but it was deliberately NOT (yet) deployed.

Thorsten

[Explorer1]

DSN Now shows Lunar Node 1 from Madrid (data rate of 0 however).

[JTN]

And the GHY-6 status page currently shows its S-band receiver "IN LOCK" to IM1, which I didn't catch it doing yesterday.
(Earlier today it was talking to Aditya-L1)

[Explorer1]

Looks like landing sideways is a trend for landers in 2024...good thing there's solar panels on multiple sides!
How do they know it's a rock keeping it propped up, with no photos?

[MahFL]

Looks like landing sideways is a trend for landers in 2024....

The landers legs needed to be wider, the lander looked top heavy to me.

[JTN]

I think the story ?Steve told was that there was 2mph residual lateral velocity (and 6mph downward), and they think it tripped on a rock.
The previous story that it was upright was based on seeing tank telemetry saying gravity was in the X direction; but that telemetry has been determined to be stale; now the tank is telling them gravity is on the Z axis. (E&OE)

[JTN]

They've only showed one new pic, from 10km up. Still trying to get surface pics down.
Hoping to get an image from LROC this weekend.

I think they just said the notion of using the NASA lidar to help landing was somewhat anticipated, not completely improvised.

[MahFL]

Vertical landing speed was 6 times planned, and the 0 lateral planned speed ended up being 2mph, hence it fell over.

[JTN]

And the EagleCam is alive, but it was deliberately NOT (yet) deployed.

No-one's mentioned EagleCam yet in the presser; hope someone asks.
[edit:] Someone did ask. The panel the EagleCam is on is, luckily, facing sideways; they plan to fire it once comms are better, where it should go up to 30m from the lander and should be able to image it.
(It wasn't ejected during landing because it was the nav system's job to do that, and there wasn't time to rejig that bit during the last-minute software patching to cope with the lack of laser rangefinder)