Space travel: US landowner Odysseus runs out of power on the moon

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Intuitive Machines posted a photo on the X text message service on Thursday showing part of the lander, the lunar surface and Earth visible in the background. The photo was taken on Thursday last week after Odysseus landed on the moon, but has been posted now. The power reserves of the lunar lander were exhausted and the device was put into sleep mode.

“We hope to hear from you…” the Intuitive Machines team continued. The Houston, Texas-based company hopes to reactivate the device in two or three weeks, once the lunar night is over and Odysseus’ solar panels can generate electricity again. However, it is very uncertain whether this will be successful or not.

On February 22, Odysseus became the first lunar lander in history to successfully land on a satellite of the Earth on a special mission. This was also the first US landing on the moon in over 50 years.

However, during the difficult landing maneuver, one of Odysseus’ legs became stuck in the lunar surface, causing the device to tip sideways. Although Odysseus was lying on its side, it initially continued to receive electricity from its solar panels. The high-tech device was able to send photos and other data to Earth.

Recently, interest in the moon has increased significantly again. Most recently, in January, Japan joined the elite club of countries that landed on the Moon with the Slim probe. The others are the USA, Russia, China and India.

Slim had also taken sides and therefore was having problems with solar energy supply. The lunar probe was initially put into sleep mode after two days of use. After a two-week moonlit night, operations could be resumed.

(SDA)

Source : Blick