Odysseus’ historic mission was hailed as a success by the company and NASA. (representative)
Washington:
An unmanned U.S. lander sent its final images Thursday before it ran out of power, the company building the lunar lander said, making it the first private spacecraft to land on the moon.
Houston-based Intuitive Machines released a photo of Odysseus taken on February 22, the day it landed near the South Pole.
But the image was only received on Thursday. The company earlier said an unstable landing caused the ship’s antennas to become misaligned and unable to transmit at optimal rates.
Intuitive Machines said the photo “shows the crescent-shaped Earth in the background, a subtle reminder of humanity’s presence in the universe.” The company also landed the first U.S. spacecraft on the moon since the manned Apollo 17 mission in 1972.
“Good night, Odie. We hope to hear from you again,” the company added, using the spaceship’s nickname, a reference to the canine companion from the Garfield comic series.
The arrival of the long lunar night means it will be another two to three weeks before flight controllers can try to wake the craft — just like the ultra-thin Japanese spacecraft that went upside down in January was revived this week — but nothing is certain of.
Odysseus’ historic mission was hailed as a success by the company and NASA, despite encountering multiple problems along the way.
A malfunction in the lander’s navigation system was due to human error when the laser safety switch was not turned on before liftoff, meaning engineers had to improvise a fix and switch to a NASA experimental system used only for technology demonstrations.
It slid away at excessive horizontal speed in the final seconds, causing one or two landing gears to break and the vehicle to come to rest at an angle. Intuitive Machines said in its latest update that the tilt is about 30 degrees.
NASA plans to return astronauts to the moon later this decade and paid Intuitive Machines about $120 million for the mission as part of a plan to delegate cargo missions to the private sector and stimulate the lunar economy.
Odysseus carries a suite of NASA instruments designed to improve scientific understanding of the lunar south pole, where the space agency plans to send astronauts later this decade.
The U.S. and international partners hope to eventually develop long-term habitats in the region and collect polar ice for drinking water and rocket fuel for eventual trips to Mars.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
