The same IMU functioned reliably on all 27 previous test flights, most of them conducted at Johnson, with Morpheus suspended from a construction crane by a restrictive tether.

That's where flight testing is slated to pick up again late this year.

But if Morpheus has a shot at a Curiosity moment, it will start at Kennedy, with the lander rising 500 meters (1,600 ft.) about a kilometer from the center of the lunarscape and flying to an Alhat- guided touchdown.

“It will just be a matter of timing before we can do that,” predicts Olansen.

And, of course, funding.