US moon lander Odysseus is still in operation, with its battery nearing its end

As it approached the end of its fifth day on the moon, Odysseus—the first US spacecraft to land there since 1972—was still functional, but flight controllers warned that its charge was running low. Soon, the ship would likely go black.

In a Tuesday web update, Texas-based Intuitive Machines said that although the lander “efficiently sent payload science data and imagery in furtherance of the company’s mission objectives,” communication between the lander and its control center in Houston was maintained.

Last Thursday, the spacecraft made it to the lunar surface after an 11-hour navigational error and a rough landing. Odysseus landed in a position that was severely slanted or sideways, which has hindered the spacecraft’s capacity to charge its solar panel and conduct communications.

The next day, Intuitive Machines claimed that the navigational problem was due to human mistake. Prior to launch, flight preparation crews had forgotten to manually flip a safety switch, which prevented the vehicle’s laser-guided range finders from being activated. As a result, flight engineers had to quickly devise a backup plan while in lunar orbit.

According to an Intuitive official who spoke with Reuters on Saturday, the safety switch malfunction was caused by the company’s cost- and time-saving choice to skip testing the laser system during pre-launch inspections.

It remained unclear, according to Intuitive officials, if the range finders’ failure and the last-minute insertion of a workaround ultimately contributed to Odysseus’ unbalanced landing.

However, the corporation said last Friday that the spacecraft’s capacity to recharge its batteries was limited since two of its communication antennas were damaged and pointing in the incorrect direction. It also had solar panels facing the wrong way.

Consequently, Intuitive said on Monday that it anticipated losing touch with Odysseus on Tuesday morning, ending the mission that was supposed to last seven to ten days on the moon and carry twelve scientific equipment for NASA and a number of commercial clients.

AIDE THE CRATER WALL?
Controllers were still “working on final determination of battery life on the lander, which may continue up to an additional 10-20 hours,” according to a Tuesday morning statement from Intuitive.

According to the company’s most recent update, the spacecraft may remain in orbit for up to six days in total before the sun sets over the landing spot.

On Tuesday, the company’s stock ended the day 7% higher. The news that the spacecraft had landed unevenly sent the stock into freefall last week.

How much scientific material and pictures from payloads may be lost as a result of Odysseus’ misdirected landing and abbreviated lunar stay is yet unknown.

Intuitive was paid $118 million by NASA to develop and operate Odysseus.

Bill Nelson, the director of NASA, told Reuters on Tuesday that he was aware that scientists at the agency anticipated obtaining some data from each of the six packages. He added that Odysseus seemed to have landed next to a crater wall and was leaning at a 12-degree inclination, but it was unclear whether he intended to say that from an upright posture or from the surface.

Engineers thought Odysseus had grabbed the foot of one of its landing legs on the lunar surface as it approached touchdown and toppled over before coming to rest horizontally, perhaps propped up by a boulder, according to intuitive executives, who made the announcement on February 23.

Thus yet, no images taken by Odysseus on the lunar surface have been sent back. However, a picture taken on Monday by an orbiting NASA satellite revealed the lander to be a small dot close to its targeted location in the moon’s south pole area.

Odysseus became the first American spacecraft to land on the moon since NASA’s last crewed Apollo mission in 1972, despite its less-than-ideal landing.