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Odysseus , the first U.S. lander to park on the Sun Myung Moon in more than 50 days , has " permanently faded " and will not be waking up again , the company that built it herald on Saturday ( March 23 ) .
The synodic month lander , nicknamed Odie , tinct down near the lunar south poleon Feb. 22 after a nail - bitter approach shot and a malfunction in the spacecraft ’s landing place guidance organization . The ballistic capsule did sowith a typeface flora , however , landing on its side after one of its six legs snapped . The lander ’s stagger only partially affected the success of its delegation , which was to study the behavior of moon dust during spacecraft landings and take measurements of the conditions in the little - research lunar part .
Odysseus' final farewell image of its landing site on the moon’s south pole.
Odysseus , which was work up by Houston - base company Intuitive Machines , powered down one week after landing as lunar Nox began for 14 day . Flight controllers ordered the spacecraft to snooze for three calendar week , while the Sun Myung Moon ’s south rod faced away from the Sunday , but they hoped Odie would reawaken once sunlight come to its solar board again .
" Intuitive Machines start listening for Odie ’s wake - up signal on March 20 , when we projected enough sunlight would potentially charge the lander ’s force organisation and plow on its radio , " representatives of the companywrote on X , formerly called Twitter .
Odysseus ' mission was not intended to subsist the harsh temperatures and darkness of the lunar night , but " flight accountant tucked Odie into a configuration that could call home if various system outmatch maker expectation , " Intuitive Machines representatives added .
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On Feb. 22 , the landersent back a final parting imagebefore it was plunge into shadow and its systems shut down .
Odie has not telephone home since March 20 , despite its solar dialog box now receive enough light to ostensibly power the spacecraft ’s wireless . On Saturday , escape restrainer conclude that " Odie ’s power system would not dispatch another call home , " Intuitive Machines representative wrote on X.
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" This confirms that Odie has for good faded after cementing its legacy into account as the first commercial lunar lander to land on the moon , " they added .
Odysseus launched atop aSpaceXFalcon 9 Eruca vesicaria sativa fromNASA ’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral , Florida , on Feb. 15 . The lander entered the moon ’s orbit on Feb. 21 and completed a individual tight loop above the lunar surface before slow for landing .
The mission is the 2nd to bear upon down on the Sun Myung Moon ’s south pole , following the successful landing ofIndia ’s Chandrayaan-3 in August 2023 . ( Chandrayaan-3 also died briefly after its reaching . ) The region has long intrigued scientists , because it hold water system ice , which could one day bebroken down into atomic number 1 and oxygen to make rocket fuel .
