Odysseus has exceeded engineers’ expectations throughout its odyssey on the moon. NASA confirmed that the spindly solar-powered robotic lander, constructed and operated by the Houston-based non-public U.S. firm Intuitive Machines, has been alive and amassing knowledge because it touched down, and toppled over, on the lunar floor on February 22.
“What a powerful job that lander did,” mentioned Intuitive Machines CEO Steve Altemus throughout a NASA information briefing on February 28. “A lot knowledge and knowledge and science. It’s simply an unbelievable testomony to how strong that little spacecraft is, so we’re actually pleased with that.”
The spacecraft, which carried payloads from universities, business and NASA, was the primary American spacecraft to carry out a delicate touchdown on the moon in additional than 50 years (SN: 2/22/24). Odysseus, or Odie because it’s nicknamed, is slowly operating out of energy, and scientists anticipate to place it into sleep mode February 28, after roughly six days on the lunar floor. They may attempt to reawaken Odie in about three weeks when the solar hits the lander’s photo voltaic panels once more.
Very similar to its namesake, the epic hero from the Greek traditional The Odyssey, the spacecraft Odysseus underwent trials and tribulations in its journey. Its autonomous touchdown system’s laser vary finder malfunctioned, inflicting engineers to scramble for an answer that concerned two further hours in orbit and reconfiguring a pair backup lasers on a NASA payload. After a nail-biting descent, Odysseus’s touchdown gear caught on the sloped floor or presumably a crevice, breaking the gear and sending the spacecraft gently tipping over on its facet.
Regardless of the mishap, “our navigation system landed us with precision and the shock absorbers took the load,” Altemus mentioned. “The touchdown gear did what it was imagined to do and defend the lander because it landed on the floor.”
The spacecraft was initially imagined to function for a few week, although throughout a Feb. 23 briefing with reporters mission director Tim Crain, chief know-how officer of Intuitive Machines, mentioned that below the very best case state of affairs it’d final for 9 to 10 days.
As an alternative, after six days on the moon, the lander was anticipated to expire of energy. “We’re going to tuck Odie in for the chilly night time of the moon,” Crain mentioned throughout the Feb. 28 briefing. “We’re going to depart the computer systems and the facility system in a spot the place we will wake it up … as soon as it will get energy once more.”
The principle limiting issue as to if Odysseus comes again on-line shall be its batteries; their chemistry-based know-how will wrestle with the intense temperature plunge of lunar night time. “We’re assured that when the solar comes again up, the photo voltaic arrays will energize they usually’ll ship energy,” mentioned Crain. “The actual query is, ‘Are the batteries there to obtain that energy and move it on?’”
Odysseus, which stands about 4 meters tall and 1.5 meters huge, got here down at a web site roughly 300 kilometers away from the lunar south pole on the slope of a crater referred to as Malapert A. Astronauts with NASA’s crewed Artemis program could land at an analogous web site or close by within the coming many years (SN: 12/1/22).
A number of the spacecraft’s numerous payloads have had their very own little adventures throughout the mission. As an illustration, a digital camera constructed by college students at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical College in Daytona Seaside, Fla., was imagined to detach throughout descent and take footage because the spacecraft touched down. As a result of issues with touchdown, the digital camera, referred to as EagleCam, was not deployed, however Crain mentioned he and others are engaged on getting it prepared for ejection.
However the Worldwide Lunar Observatory Affiliation, a personal firm primarily based in Kamuela, Hawaii, has acquired photos from a telescope it despatched on Odysseus named ILO‐X. The instrument is a precursor to a bigger telescope the corporate hopes to deploy at Malapert A sooner or later and is meant to conduct scientific observations of the Milky Means from the moon. The affiliation confirmed that ILO-X was in a position to snap photos throughout the mission, which present parts of the lunar panorama, the solar and the Odysseus lander. The photographs are anticipated to be launched February 29.
The entire NASA devices that Odysseus carried have been transmitting helpful knowledge, mentioned Sue Lederer, venture scientist for NASA’s Industrial Lunar Payload Companies at Johnson House Middle in Houston. Engineers had been in a position to troubleshoot preliminary issues with the spacecraft’s antenna that prevented full transmission, and have since acquired a flood of knowledge.
“We went from principally a cocktail straw of knowledge coming again to a boba-tea-sized straw of knowledge,” Lederer mentioned. “We’ve gotten over 15 megabytes of knowledge.” This shall be helpful for understanding the spacecraft’s landing sequence in addition to informing future missions to the moon and Mars, she mentioned.
