Texas-based Intuitive Machines said in an online conference on Tuesday that its control center in Houston was in contact with the vehicle, which “efficiently transmitted scientific data and images that aided the company's goals from which this flight was launched.”
The spacecraft touched down on the moon's surface last Thursday after an 11-hour penetration glitch and a complicated landing that ended with Odysseus landing sideways, or sharply tilted, which hampered its communications and ability to charge with solar power.
revolves around the moon
The company said the next day that human error was the cause of the navigation problem when flight crews failed to manually activate a safety switch before launch, preventing the vehicle's laser-guided rangefinders from working and forcing flight engineers to make an emergency adjustment. While orbiting the moon.
A company executive told Reuters on Saturday that the safety switch error was the result of a decision to abandon test firings of the laser system during pre-launch tests to save time and money.
Intuition said Monday that it would lose contact with Odysseus on Tuesday morning, curtailing its mission to carry dozens of scientific instruments for NASA and several commercial customers, and to operate on the moon for seven to 10 days.
