Lunar lander Odysseus of Intuitive Machine of Texas, USA was successful in landing on the Moon, but this landing was not completely accurate, and the vehicle also became slightly crooked after landing. This incident has made it a unique landing in many ways. Odysseus became the first American spacecraft to reach the Moon since the Apollo 17 mission in 1972.
Lunar Lander Odysseus of Intuitive Machine of Texas, USA was successful in landing on the Moon, but this landing was not completely accurate and the vehicle also became slightly crooked after landing. This incident has made it a unique landing in many ways. Odysseus becomes the first American spacecraft to reach the Moon since the Apollo 17 mission in 1972. Odysseus has sent the first photo from the southern surface of the Moon.
Odysseus sent the first picture of the moon
“Odysseus is communicating with fighter controllers at Nova Control from the surface of the moon,” Intuitive Machines said in a post Monday on X. Two pictures have also been shared in the post. The first photo of the hexagon-shaped spacecraft landing, and the second taken 35 seconds after its fall, reveal the baked soil of the Malapert A impact crater.
Images from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera team confirmed Odysseus completed its landing at 80.13°S and 1.44°E at a 2579 m elevation. After traveling more than 600,000 miles, Odysseus landed within 1.5 km of its intended Malapert A landing site, using a contingent… pic.twitter.com/CaMSSO4Gfb
— Intuitive Machines (@Int_Machines) February 26, 2024It should be noted that NASA provided complete collaboration for this private company’s lander. Within the framework of the Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative, NASA has been offering financial support to private enterprises about the Moon. Additionally, NASA funds numerous experiments conducted by businesses. Astrobotic, a different American corporation, attempted to land Peregrine One on the moon earlier this year, but it was unsuccessful. Still, the machine that was intuitive worked.
The capabilities of the vehicle may be affected
The Odysseus spacecraft became crooked after landing on the Moon’s surface. Because, one leg of this vehicle was broken at the time of landing. At the same time, scientists believe that the soft landing of Odysseus was successful, but the spacecraft’s working capabilities may be affected.
Earlier, Japanese space agency JAXA had recently successfully soft landed the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (Slim) vehicle. After doing this, Japan became the fifth country in the list of such countries. Slim also had a crooked landing, and this also hampered his functions.
‘Odysseus’ sent the first picture of the moon
Intuitive Machines has been paid about $120 million for the mission. Odysseus carried NASA scientific instruments designed to better understand the Moon’s south pole. NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) on Saturday captured the image of the 4.0 meter (13 foot) long ‘Nova-C’ class lander from a spot within 1.5 kilometers of its landing site.
Odysseus sent via Apollo mission
Following the same route previously selected for the Apollo missions, the Odysseus lunar lander was launched under the IM-1 mission. Three hundred and eighty-four thousand kilometers separate the Moon from Earth. The IM-1 mission took eight days to go this distance and made it to the moon.
Odysseus was tilting to one side, but it didn’t bother astronomer and space mission specialist Jonathan McDowell, who spoke to AFP about it. He would grade it an A minus, calling it a minor success. In general, he stated, NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program is making progress.
The spacecraft’s laser-guided landing mechanism was not able to engage because Intuitive Machines’ engineers had neglected to flip a safety switch. This revelation led the company to upload a software patch and rescue the day. needed to rely on a NASA experimental system.
