KJust before the battery ran out: The commercial US lunar lander Odysseus can only provide images of the moon for a few hours due to a power shortage. In the morning, Odysseus “efficiently sent scientific payload data and images,” the company Intuitive Machines said on Tuesday on the online service X, formerly Twitter. The lifespan of the battery is currently ten to 20 hours. Flight control is still in contact with Odysseus and is “working on the final determination” of his battery charge, it said.
The lander, built by Intuitive Machines, arrived on the moon on Thursday. On Monday it sent the first photos of the moon.
It was the first US moon landing since the end of the partially manned Apollo program more than 50 years ago and the first landing of a commercial probe on Earth's satellite ever. There had also never been a landing so far south on the moon before.
However, during landing, one of Odysseus's legs got caught on the lunar surface, causing the device to tip over sideways. “However, Odysseus continues to communicate with flight control,” Intuitive Machines said Monday. Despite lying on his side, Odysseus received electricity from his solar panels.
Because of the lunar lander's sideways position, its mission will probably be shortened somewhat. According to the original plan, Odysseus was supposed to transmit data for seven days, including temperature and radiation measurements and soil surveys.
The aim of the mission called IM-1 is to research the requirements for manned lunar missions in the area around the lunar crater Malapert A. The US space agency Nasa wants to bring astronauts to the moon again in 2026 with its Artemis program. Odysseus has several NASA devices on board. The space agency paid Intuitive Machines $118 million (almost €109 million) for the transport.
NASA wants to hire private companies for future cargo flights to the moon. The Earth satellite will also be a stopover for future manned flights to Mars. The South Pole is a candidate for a base camp on the moon because its ice could potentially be used to produce drinking water and rocket fuel.
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