CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – A private U.S. lunar lander, named Odysseus, is facing an early end to its mission after landing sideways near the south pole of the moon. The Houston company Intuitive Machines, responsible for building and operating the spacecraft, announced that Odysseus will cease operations once it no longer receives sunlight on its solar panels. This premature end is expected to occur on Tuesday, cutting the mission short by about two to three days.
Odysseus made history as the first U.S. spacecraft to land on the moon in over 50 years. However, a mishap during landing caused the lander to come in too fast, resulting in one of its legs getting caught on the surface and causing it to topple over. Despite the setback, the lander managed to touch down within a mile of its intended target near the Malapert A crater, just 185 miles from the moon’s south pole.
NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter captured images of Odysseus on the moon’s surface, showing the lander as a small spot in the photos. The lander ended up in a small crater with a 12-degree slope, the closest a spacecraft has ever come to the moon’s south pole. This region is of particular interest due to the suspected presence of frozen water in the shadowed craters.
NASA had contracted Intuitive Machines to deliver six experiments to the lunar surface, with plans to land astronauts in the same region in the coming years. Despite the challenges posed by the sideways landing, Odysseus became the first private company to achieve a successful moon landing. Another U.S. company, Astrobotic Technology, attempted a moon landing last month but was unsuccessful due to a fuel leak.
Ground teams overseeing Odysseus’s mission faced a critical oversight when they failed to activate the lander’s navigating lasers before liftoff. This led to reliance on a NASA laser navigating device onboard as a backup plan. Fortunately, NASA’s test lasers guided Odysseus to a near bull’s-eye landing, marking the first moon landing by a U.S. spacecraft since the Apollo program.
Intuitive Machines and Astrobotic Technology both hold contracts with NASA for future moon landing missions, continuing the push for commercial deliveries to the moon. As the exploration of the moon’s surface progresses, the recent accomplishments of private companies like Intuitive Machines highlight the evolving landscape of space exploration and technology.