Odysseus, the first U.S. spacecraft to land on the moon in more than 50 years — and the first in the private sector — was reported to be “alive and well” Friday, in a statement on the social media platform X.
The spacecraft was launched by Intuitive Machines, a Houston-based aerospace company whose moon landing mission was largely funded by NASA.
Intuitive Machines was given $118 million for their expedition under NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services, or CLPS, initiative that seeks to bolster the lunar economy.
The spacecraft landed on the south polar region of the moon at 6:23 p.m. EST Thursday, near the Malapert A crater, close to the pole.
In a joint webcast between Intuitive Machines and NASA, they updated viewers on their expedition, saying they experienced issues with their navigation system, which caused them to take an extra lap around the moon to switch to NASA’s laser navigation technology.
They noted they also experienced a radio blackout during the voyage. When they reestablished connection to the spacecraft, the signal was weak, although they could confirm it landed.
Another issue that occurred during the expedition was the failure to photograph the landing, as planned, because of unforeseen complications.
A six-camera EagleCam system meant to capture the landing was intended to be launched by Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, but according to a university spokeswoman, “unexpected events” led them to change plans.
Rather than being deployed from the spacecraft to document the landing, the EagleCam was still attached to Odysseus when it landed.
Intuitive Machines CTO Tim Crain said, “Odie is a scrapper” on the X platform, referring to the spacecraft.
The exact location and the position of Odysseus was initially uncertain, but Intuitive Machines said on X that flight controllers “have confirmed Odysseus is upright and starting to send data.”
On Friday, the company said on X in their “Day One Update” that “we continue to learn more about the vehicle’s specific information … overall health, and attitude [orientation].”
As the signal to the spacecraft is weaker than anticipated, some experts wonder if Odysseus was damaged or if the signal is being blocked by something.
Thomas Zurbuchen, former NASA science chief, told Reuters it could be something like a rock or a boulder, which “could prevent the lander from effectively completing its data transmission tasks.”Despite the complications, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson called the landing a “triumph.”
Last month, another spacecraft was sent to the moon by Astrobotic Technology under the CLPS program, but a fuel leak forced them to abort the mission and the lander crashed back to Earth.
Odysseus will operate for the next seven days on solar energy, transmitting lunar environmental data to Earth. That’s to prepare NASA for an upcoming space voyage this decade called Artemis, in which NASA plans to send astronauts to the moon by 2026 at the earliest.
Some information for this report was provided by Reuters and The Associated Press.
