by It has been four days since the first private moon landing, an event that was shrouded in mixed emotions. We’ll get into that in a moment. First things first, a few hours ago we got some brand new footage of the achievement – as well as a sad but inevitable update on the fate of the lander.
For a quick explanation, on February 26, Intuitive machines announced on X (formerly Twitter) that Odysseus is still communicating with ground control despite falling gently on his side after a bit wonky moon touched down. Even better, Odysseus managed to a pair of images from the moon. One was taken as it approached its landing site, called Malapert A, and the other appears to be the first close-up angle we’ve seen of the moon’s surface.
It would also appear that NASA Lunar Exploration Orbitwhich is being scanned the moon from the lunar orbit since 2009, caught sight of Odysseus (as it has done with many previous lunar landers) from an altitude of about 56 miles (90 km). Diligently, he sent the bird’s eye view back to World. “Images from NASAThe crew of the Lunar Exploration Orbiter Camera Odysseus confirmed that it landed at 80.13°S and 1.44°E at an altitude of 2579 m,” explained Intuitive Machines in the post X. Malapert proposed Landing site, using a contingency laser range finding system filled hours before landing. “
Related: Intuitive Machines’ Odysseus lander landed on the moon during a ‘spicy’ lunar landing
However, in addition to this moon gallery, mission controllers also offered a more practical update on the mission. “Based on the position of the Earth and the moon, we believe that flight controllers will continue to communicate with Odysseus until Tuesday morning,” the team said in a statement on the company’s website.
If you’re a little disappointed by the quality of the Odysseus images (not LRO’s, those are always super high-res), you can blame the lander’s complicated, near-complex landing situation on February 22 .
The drama
When Odysseus’ geometric spaceship landed on the surface of the moon, I was immediately taken aback. The team was perplexed.
It was because the lander wasn’t calling home at first; Even the company’s public broadcast of the event was met with radio silence, nervous laughter and abstinence. The landing time was over, but where was the concrete proof that Odysseus did not fall? In addition, the tension was increased by a dramatic situation that happened a few hours before; Odysseus’ laser range finders managed to tell the spacecraft where it is and how fast it is going, they worked. Engineers had to scramble to fix the problem because the issue arose just hours before the landing window opened – a window that was eventually delayed due to the disaster.
Amazingly, the team found a way to reuse one of Odysseus’ 12 wage burdens called the Navigation Doppler Lidar for Precise Velocity and Range Sensing to serve as the mission’s new compass. Fortunately, the NDL had some laser software of its own that could act as a substitute GPS.
But even when Odysseus finally sent back a communication signal, the signal was very weak.
Eventually, after seeing what was going on with the spaceship, the scientists were able to confirm that Odysseus alive and well on the moon. However, they also realized that Odysseus, somewhere on the road to landing, accidentally crashed during his journey, ending up on his side. Per Intuitive Machines, this image of the landing, captured by a starboard side camera on the landing side, was taken about 35 seconds after Odysseus touched down before landing.
Nothing was lost, as the crew said there were scientific investigations on board that could still be used. For example, according to the February 26 X post, “Hazard Relative Navigation algorithms detected nine safe landing sites within the targeted south pole region, which is an area of permanently shadowed regions that may be rich in resources, with -includes water ice that could be used for propulsion and life support on the moon in the future.”
Odysseus seems to have gotten a bit stronger over time compared to his original sensitive communication signal. However, one major piece of imagery from the mission was a return.
Originally, a camera called EagleCam was supposed to be deployed as Odysseus landed, capturing some amazing views of the entire series. But, “the decision was made to power EagleCam during landing and not to deploy the device during the final descent of Odysseus,” Mike Cavaliere, director of news and media relations Embry Riddle Aeronautical University, write in an update on 23 February. That’s the university behind the design of EagleCam. However, Cavaliere made sure to turn on EagleCam for a photoshoot later.
According to Intuitive Machines’ latest update, the team also confirmed that Odysseus “is the farthest any vehicle has successfully landed on the moon and established communications with ground controllers.” This is a big deal because space Agencies are racing to get to the moon’s south pole so far, including the Indian Space Research Organization Chandrayan-3 and the (failed) Russian Luna-25 attempt.
Related Stories:
— This is what landed on the moon aboard the Lander Odysseus Intuitive Machines
— Intuitive Machines lands on the moon after private lander Odysseus, 1st for US since 1972
— The moon lander Odysseus from Intuitive Machines did not use a camera during its historic descent
And at the end of the day, even with his obstacles, Odysseus is a lander who will undoubtedly go down in history. It is the first private spacecraft to reach the lunar surface and the first successful proof of principle for NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services program, which was meant to revolutionize the way we see the future accessibility of lunar exploration. Sorry, we will have to say goodbye soon.
“Flight controllers plan to collect data until the lander’s solar panels are no longer exposed to light,” Intuitive Machines said in the X post. Without sunlight, Odysseus will be left facing the frigid lunar night — a night that will not last most of our robotic explorers.
