The moon-capable spacecraft Odysseus, which is still producing energy on the lunar surface, is approaching its scheduled hibernation period.
Odysseus,
which landed on the moon last week
According to company officials on Wednesday, the lunar lander has approximately three hours remaining before Intuitive Machines shuts it down temporarily in order to possibly reactivate it in a few weeks.
On Wednesday, the Intuitive Machines CEO and co-founder, Steve Altemus, stated that their lunar lander, also known as “Odie,” had approximately 10-20 hours remaining after being active on Tuesday morning. Despite this, the spacecraft managed to keep generating solar power on the moon. According to Altemus, in a few weeks, Odysseus’ solar panel will once again be exposed to sunlight.
During a press conference, Altemus stated that our plan is to carefully protect Odie from the cold night on the moon and try to revive him when we reach the sun’s highest point in approximately three weeks, after the lunar night is over.
When it landed, Odysseus unexpectedly came down quickly and tipped onto its side.
Altemus reported that during landing, the spacecraft experienced a skid and resulted in damage to the landing gear. However, despite this challenge, Odysseus successfully transmitted images and information. All of the experiments and equipment on Odysseus, including six instruments from NASA and six from commercial sources, have provided data.
Intuitive Machines via AP
According to Lederer, Odysseus exceeded expectations by sending back over 15 megabytes of data.
“We’ve increased our data retrieval volume from a tiny cocktail straw to a larger boba tea size straw,” Lederer stated, referring to an improvement in the amount of data we can obtain.
According to Altemus, the mission can be considered a success.
“We have made significant changes to the economic aspects of lunar landing during this mission,” Altemus explained. “We have opened the pathway for a strong and flourishing cislunar economy to develop in the years to come.”
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Source: cbsnews.com