Odysseus on the Moon. The photograph exhibits a bit of a touchdown gear leg that has damaged off. Credit score: Intuitive Machines
The lunar lander Odysseus, which touched down softly — if considerably awkwardly — on the Moon final week, is alive and properly. However after almost per week of returning science knowledge, it’s operating low on energy and can quickly be put to sleep.
“What we’re going to do is tuck ‘Odie’ in for the chilly night time and see if we are able to wake him up right here once we get to solar midday in about three weeks,” Steve Altemus, CEO of the craft’s builder and operator, Intuitive Machines, mentioned throughout a press conference Feb. 28. Altemus’ reference to “solar midday” displays the hope that the craft can generate extra energy when the Solar is excessive overhead and probably resume operations.
Odysseus’ touchdown on Feb. 22 made it the primary American-made craft to land on the Moon since 1972 and the primary non-governmental craft to ever accomplish that.
However it wasn’t a flawless touchdown. As Odysseus — about 14 toes (4.3 meters) tall and weighing roughly 1,488 kilos (675 kilograms) — neared the lunar floor, as a substitute of hovering stably earlier than touching down, it was nonetheless drifting slowly. When its toes touched down, they skidded throughout the Moon’s floor, snapping one of many touchdown gear legs. Because the engine shut off, the craft gently toppled partially over, coming to relaxation at a few 30-degree angle from upright.
Regardless of the tumble, the lander was capable of generate energy from its solar panels, permitting all of its payloads to gather and return knowledge. Nonetheless, the awkward touchdown altered the mission as a result of the craft’s solar panels couldn’t intention straight on the Solar. The lander was scheduled to gather knowledge for so long as 10 days however will as a substitute go into hibernation after six days.
Touchdown on the lunar south pole
Odysseus carried six payloads beneath contract for NASA. A number of have been meant to gather knowledge and check navigation and touchdown know-how that shall be used for the company’s Artemis program, which is able to return astronauts to the Moon. “All the knowledge that can be utilized for Artemis shall be used for Artemis,” NASA’s Sue Lederer mentioned through the press convention.
Odysseus landed about 185 miles (300 kilometers) from the Moon’s south pole, close to a crater named Malapert A. The realm is a part of the rugged polar highlands, the identical area Artemis landings will goal.
Attributable to a wiring error, Odysseus was compelled to fly its landing with out its built-in laser rangefinders, a key navigation instrument. Engineers delayed the touchdown to place collectively a last-minute hack, rerouting knowledge from the laser ranging instruments on one of many science payloads. Nonetheless, Intuitive Machines revealed on the Feb. 28 press convention that the patch didn’t work; within the scramble, engineers missed a flag within the code to inform the navigation algorithm the information have been legitimate.
Because of this, the lander got here to relaxation about 0.9 mile (1.5 km) outdoors of its meant touchdown zone, at a better elevation than anticipated, and on a 12-degree slope inside a small crater. These components additionally contributed to its barely clumsy touchdown.
Nonetheless, for Intuitive Machines, the truth that the craft managed to land softly utilizing solely knowledge from its cameras and inside movement sensors is a feat in itself. “It’s the primary time anyone’s flown this algorithm, and it exceeded expectations as a result of we stay to inform about it,” mentioned Tim Crain, the corporate’s chief know-how officer.
Science and know-how demonstrations
The NASA payloads included quite a lot of assessments and demonstrations, together with landing technologies (concerned within the failed laser rangefinder patch), monitoring the lander’s fuel in zero gravity, and different navigation and communication tools.
One instrument was designed to watch how the touchdown engine exhaust interacts with the lunar surface and its sharp, abrasive dust. Sadly, a {hardware} failure prevented it from accumulating knowledge through the descent and touchdown, however controllers have been capable of repair this later and make observations from the touchdown web site.
In one other spaceflight first, Odysseus’ engine runs on a combination of liquid methane and liquid oxygen. These propellants should be saved at very low temperatures, as even in space, warmth from the Solar or spacecraft exhaust may cause it to boil off. Such cryogenic fuels are anticipated to play a key long-term position within the Artemis program.
The lunar lander additionally introduced a payload to review radio emissions from objects just like the Solar, Jupiter, and Earth. That is an early first step towards a long-held dream of astronomers — putting a radio telescope on the Moon’s farside, shielded from interference from Earth.
The supply of the devices is the second mission of NASA’s Industrial Lunar Payload Providers (CLPS) initiative, which contracts industrial firms to ship instruments and know-how to the Moon. The primary CLPS mission, the Peregrine lander constructed by U.S. firm Astrobiotic, failed to achieve the Moon and burned up in Earth’s ambiance final month.
