{"id":778045,"date":"2024-02-28T18:21:53","date_gmt":"2024-02-28T23:21:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/?p=778045"},"modified":"2024-02-28T18:21:53","modified_gmt":"2024-02-28T23:21:53","slug":"odysseus-will-take-a-nap-after-sending-moon-landing-snapshots","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/?p=778045","title":{"rendered":"Odysseus Will Take a Nap After Sending Moon Landing Snapshots"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Intuitive Machines says it\u2019s putting its Odysseus moon lander to bed for a long lunar night, with hopes of reviving it once the sun rises again near the moon\u2019s south pole.<\/p>\n<p>The Houston-based company and NASA recapped Odysseus\u2019s six days of operation on the lunar surface, shared pictures showing its off-kilter configuration, and looked ahead to the mission\u2019s next phase during a briefing today at Johnson Space Center in Texas. <\/p>\n<p>The original plan called for the solar-powered spacecraft to be turned off when the sun fell below the lunar horizon, but Intuitive Machines CEO Steve Altemus said mission controllers would instead put the Odysseus into hibernation and try restoring contact in three weeks\u2019 time. \u201cWe are going to leave the computers and the power system in a place where we can wake it up and do this development test objective, to actually try to ping it with an antenna and see if we can\u2019t wake it up once it gets power again,\u201d he told reporters.<\/p>\n<p><span id=\"more-165941\"\/><\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<p>\n<span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Odysseus\u2019s first images from the Moon\" width=\"1110\" height=\"624\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/XrW7V-1X4Po?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/span>\n<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Last week, Odysseus became the first-ever commercial spacecraft to survive a descent to the lunar surface, and the first U.S.-built spacecraft to do so since NASA\u2019s Apollo 17 mission in 1972. NASA struck a deal to pay Intuitive Machines $118 million to deliver six science instruments to the lunar surface under the terms of its Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative, or CLPS.<\/p>\n<p>Sue Lederer, NASA\u2019s project scientist for CLPS at Johnson Space Center, said every one of NASA\u2019s payloads has met \u201csome level of their objectives, and we\u2019re very excited about that.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>NASA\u2019s deputy associate administrator for exploration, Joel Kearns, said the space agency considered the mission to be a success despite the difficulties encountered during Odysseus\u2019 landing. He also said the mission validated NASA\u2019s strategy of enlisting private companies to provide robotic rides to the moon.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s an exciting time to be on Day 6 of this new era in the 21st century,\u201d Kearns said.<\/p>\n<p>The new era has had more than its fair share of challenges. Tim Crain, who serves as Intuitive Machines\u2019 chief technology officer as well as Odysseus\u2019s IM-1 mission director, said there were at least 11 do-or-die moments along the way.<\/p>\n<p>One of the most critical challenges came when the mission team discovered that the lander\u2019s laser range-finding system couldn\u2019t be activated for the Feb. 22 landing, due to a safety lock that wasn\u2019t deactivated before the Feb. 15 launch.<\/p>\n<p>Engineers came up with what they thought would be a last-minute fix. That involved connecting one of NASA\u2019s payloads, an experimental laser range-finding system, to Odysseus\u2019s internal guidance system.<\/p>\n<p>However, when the Odysseus team later reconstructed the events leading up to the landing, they found out that the readings from the NASA system couldn\u2019t be processed because they lacked a required data-verification code, Crain said. Instead, the lander had to rely on its inertial measurement unit and its optical navigation system.<\/p>\n<p>That appears to explain why Odysseus\u2019s landing was rougher than expected. \u201cThe flight dynamics guys calculate that we actually came down just short of our [intended] landing site, at a higher elevation than where our landing site was going to be,\u201d Altemus said.<\/p>\n<p>As a result, Odysseus came down to the surface at a higher downward velocity, with extra sideward velocity as well. \u201cWe hit harder, and sort of skidded,\u201d Altemus said.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">An ultra-wide-field version of an image sent back by the Odysseus moon lander during its Feb. 22 touchdown shows a landing leg breaking off and moon dirt being kicked up by engine exhaust. (Credit: Intuitive Machines) <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>One of the pictures released today shows Odysseus skidding to a stop, with pieces of a landing leg breaking off. \u201cThe landing gear did what it was supposed to do and protected the lander as it landed on the surface,\u201d Altemus said.<\/p>\n<p>The image also shows plumes of moon dirt spraying away from the blast of Odysseus\u2019s engine. The lander was able to stay upright as long as its engine kept firing. \u201cAnd then, as it wound down, the vehicle just gently tipped over,\u201d Altemus said.<\/p>\n<p>Crain said Odysseus\u2019s inability to use its primary laser range-finding system was a big loss. \u201cIf we would have had the laser range-finders, we would have nailed the landing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Instead, Odysseus is lying at a 30-degree angle, in such a way that its main solar array isn\u2019t able to soak up as much sunlight as planned. Moreover, some of its antennas are pointing toward the ground.<\/p>\n<p>The misalignment of the antennas created another problem: \u201cOur signals were bouncing off the moon,\u201d Crain said, and that made it harder for the team to decipher the signals that were received at ground stations around the globe. <\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-medium\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"435\" height=\"580\" src=\"https:\/\/www.universetoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/240228-leaning-435x580.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-165944\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.universetoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/240228-leaning-435x580.jpg 435w, https:\/\/www.universetoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/240228-leaning-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.universetoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/240228-leaning-188x250.jpg 188w, https:\/\/www.universetoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/240228-leaning-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https:\/\/www.universetoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/240228-leaning.jpg 1497w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 435px) 100vw, 435px\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">This Feb. 27 image from Odysseus\u2019s narrow-field-of-view camera shows the lander leaning off-kilter on the lunar surface. The prominent orange feature is a helium tank. (Credit: Intuitive Machines)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>Eventually, engineers figured out how to compensate for the scrambled signals \u2014 and they mounted a full-court press to get as much data down as fast as they could. Lederer said that made a huge difference.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cInstead of ending up with a few bytes of data, which was a baseline goal for us, we\u2019ve gotten over 50 megabytes of data,\u201d she said. \u201cWe went from basically a cocktail straw of data coming back to a boba-tea straw of data coming back.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The data from NASA\u2019s payloads will help the space agency plan for follow-up robotic missions in the CLPS program \u2014 including Intuitive Machines\u2019 IM-2 mission, which could be launched later this year. Such missions are meant to set the stage for the Artemis program\u2019s first crewed trip to the lunar south polar region, scheduled for as early as 2026.<\/p>\n<p>Odysseus also carried six private-sector payloads to the lunar surface. One of the payloads is a mini-camera system that was built by faculty and students at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. The system, known as EagleCam, was designed to be ejected from the lander during the descent and capture a \u201cselfie\u201d view of the touchdown.<\/p>\n<p>Because of the anomalies surrounding Odysseus\u2019s descent, EagleCam couldn\u2019t be ejected for the landing. Altemus said the mission team finally reactivated and deployed EagleCam today. \u201cIt ejected about 4 meters away from the vehicle safely,\u201d he said. \u201cHowever, either in the camera or in the wi-fi signal back to the lander, something might not be working correctly.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Altemus said the Embry-Riddle team \u201cis working on that and wrestling with that to see if there\u2019s anything they can do.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Crain said it\u2019s by no means clear whether Odysseus can be revived after the 14-day-long lunar night in the south polar region, during which temperatures could get colder than 200 degrees below zero Fahrenheit (-130 degrees Celsius). \u201cThe No. 1 limiter we face is the batteries,\u201d he said. \u201cBatteries are a chemical asset, and that chemistry does not respond well to deep cold. \u2026 The batteries absolutely are not tested to that level of cold. Neither is our flight computer or our radars.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>If the mission team can revive Odysseus, it would be a feat comparable to the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency\u2019s revival of its SLIM moon lander last weekend.<\/p>\n<p>Despite the glitches, Altemus said Odysseus, which is named after a hero in Greek mythology, should be seen as a trailblazer for the commercialization of moon exploration.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think it\u2019s the tip of the iceberg. And it\u2019s beginning, for people to realize, \u2018Wow, this was an incredible success. What are the possibilities?&#8217;\u201d he said. \u201cI think that was the whole purpose here, to open up space exploration \u2026 so more and more people can participate. And if that\u2019s the result we get, I\u2019m happy for that.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"sharedaddy sd-block sd-like jetpack-likes-widget-wrapper jetpack-likes-widget-unloaded\" id=\"like-post-wrapper-24000880-165941-65dfbee184975\" data-src=\"https:\/\/widgets.wp.com\/likes\/?ver=13.1.3#blog_id=24000880&amp;post_id=165941&amp;origin=www.universetoday.com&amp;obj_id=24000880-165941-65dfbee184975&amp;n=1\" data-name=\"like-post-frame-24000880-165941-65dfbee184975\" data-title=\"Like or Reblog\">\n<h3 class=\"sd-title\">Like this:<\/h3>\n<p><span class=\"button\"><span>Like<\/span><\/span> <span class=\"loading\">Loading&#8230;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"sd-text-color\"\/><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.universetoday.com\/165941\/odysseus-sleep-snapshots-moon-landing\/?rand=772204\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Intuitive Machines says it\u2019s putting its Odysseus moon lander to bed for a long lunar night, with hopes of reviving it once the sun rises again near the moon\u2019s south&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":778046,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-778045","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-genaero"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/778045","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=778045"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/778045\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/778046"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=778045"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=778045"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=778045"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}