The Odyssius spacecraft has approached the end of its fifth day on the lunar surface and is still operational. However, its operators state that there are only a few hours left in the battery life before the first American spacecraft to land on the Moon since 1972 will enter total darkness.
Intuitive Machines, based in Texas, stated in an online update on Tuesday that its control center in Houston has maintained contact with the spacecraft, which has "efficiently transmitted scientific data and images serving the goals for which this mission was launched." The spacecraft touched down on the Moon last Thursday after an 11-hour navigation failure and a concerning landing sequence that resulted in Odyssius resting on its side, hindering its communications and solar charging capabilities.
The company reported the following day that a human error led to the navigation issue; the flight preparation teams neglected to manually turn on the safety switch before launch, preventing the activation of the spacecraft's laser range-finding systems and forcing engineers to improvise an alternative quickly while orbiting the Moon. An executive from the company told Reuters on Saturday that the safety switch error stemmed from the company's decision to skip the pre-launch test of the laser system during checks, in an effort to save time and money.
Intuitive Machines indicated on Monday that it expects to lose contact with Odyssius on Tuesday morning, shortening a mission that carried dozens of scientific instruments for NASA and several commercial clients, which was supposed to operate on the Moon for seven to ten days.
