The US spacecraft Odyssey, which landed sideways on the moon, is still operational after one week.
Odysseus, the initial American spacecraft to successfully land on the moon in 50 years, was “still in operation” on Thursday. However, it was approaching its shutdown phase as researchers kept a close eye on its last transmissions. The mission, which cost millions of dollars, aimed to gather valuable data.
The lunar landing occurred one week ago for the spacecraft, and the operators had anticipated it would function for a maximum of 10 days. However, an unsteady landing resulted in communication issues and hindered the solar chargers.
The ultimate decision about its future will be made by Intuitive Machines, a company located in Texas that was contracted by NASA for $118 million to construct the robotic lander and transport it to the moon’s surface. As of 10:20 a.m., Intuitive reported that Odysseus was still functional and plans to retrieve more information and adjust the lander’s settings to re-establish communication if it receives sufficient solar energy after emerging from a three-week sleep during the cold lunar night.
According to NASA, data from all six of its science payloads was successfully retrieved. However, the extent of information lost from the agency and six commercial payloads is currently uncertain.
The Nova-C-class lander, with a height of 4 meters (13 feet), was sent into space on February 15 from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida using a Falcon 9 rocket provided by SpaceX. It began orbiting the moon six days after launch.
On February 22, the rover made it to the moon’s surface, but due to a last-minute issue with navigation, it landed in a tilted position, hindering its functioning.
On February 27, 2024, a picture was taken of the Odysseus lunar lander from Intuitive Machines, which had landed near the South Pole of the Moon. The image was captured using the lander’s narrow-field-of-view camera. (Photo: Intuitive Machines via Reuters)
The following day, Intuitive Machines announced that the navigational issue was caused by human error.
The team responsible for ensuring the readiness of the flight forgot to manually unlock an important safety switch before takeoff. This led to the laser-guided range finders on the vehicle not being able to activate, causing the flight engineers to quickly come up with a backup solution during the mission orbiting the moon.
A top-level executive informed Reuters on Saturday that the failure of the safety switch was due to the company’s choice to skip a test firing of the laser system during pre-launch inspections in order to streamline the process and cut costs.
Intuitive officials stated that it was still uncertain whether the malfunction of the range finders and the last-minute replacement with an alternative solution had ultimately led to Odysseus’ landing in an incorrect position.
However, the company announced on Friday that two of the spacecraft’s communication antennas were damaged and now directed in the wrong direction, while its solar panels are also not facing the correct direction. This has negatively impacted the vehicle’s ability to recharge its batteries.
Due to this, Intuitive announced on Monday that they anticipate losing communication with Odysseus on Tuesday morning, effectively ending the mission earlier than planned.
According to NASA administrator Bill Nelson, in a statement to Reuters on Tuesday, it appears that Odysseus landed next to a crater wall and is currently tilted at a 12-degree angle. However, it is uncertain if this angle is measured from the surface or from its upright position.
On February 23, executives with a good understanding reported that engineers were confident that Odysseus had snagged one of its landing legs on the moon’s surface during its descent and subsequently fell over, finally coming to rest in a horizontal position, possibly supported by a rock.
On Monday, a photo taken by a NASA spacecraft orbiting the moon revealed the lander as a small dot close to its planned target in the southern polar region.
The photographs from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera team have confirmed that Odysseus has successfully landed, as shown in the images provided by NASA. (NASA/Goddard/Arizona State University via AP)
In 1972, Odysseus marked the return of a manned U.S. spacecraft to the moon after the last Apollo mission by NASA.
This was also the initial ever moon landing achieved by a privately designed and operated spacecraft, and the first as part of NASA’s Artemis program, which intends to bring back astronauts to the moon within the next ten years.
Until now, only the space agencies of four other nations have successfully achieved a “soft” landing on the moon – the Soviet Union, China, India, and most recently, Japan, whose lander also ended up on its side.
The US is the sole nation to have successfully landed humans on the moon.
Source: voanews.com
