Observation of the First Moon Landing of Odysseus and NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Near Malapert A

The private US mission to the moon is due to stop working on Tuesday after a brief landing at the south pole.

The company that built and flew the spaceship said Monday it will keep collecting data until the sun dies down. Based on the position of Earth and the moon, officials expect that to happen Tuesday morning. That’s two to three days short of the week or so that NASA and other customers had been counting on.

The Apollo program’s first moon landing took place after NASA’s test lasers guided Odysseus to the edge of the moon.

Based on photos from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter flying overhead, Odysseus landed within a mile or so (1.5 kilometers) of its intended target near the Malapert A crater, just 185 miles or so (300 kilometers) from the moon’s south pole.

The LRO photos from 56 miles (90 kilometers) up are the only ones showing the lander on the surface, but as little more than a spot in the grainy images. A camera-ejecting experiment by Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, to capture images of the lander as they both descended, was called off shortly before touchdown because of a last-minute navigation issue.

NASA paid $138 million to bring six experiments to the surface, as part of a plan to land astronauts in the region in the next few years. Other customers also had items on board.

Missions to the Moon: Failures of Intuitive Machines and other U.S. Firms after the Odysseus Disaster

Instead of landing upright, the 14-foot (4.3-meter) Odysseus came down on its side, hampering communication with Earth. Some of the antennas that were exposed ended up on the ground, which resulted in spotty communications. The solar panels also ended up much closer to the surface than anticipated, less than ideal in the hilly terrain. Odysseus only had a week to operate before the long lunar night set in.

Only the US, Russia, China, India, and Japan have been successful in landing astronauts on the moon. The Japan’s landers ended up on the wrong side last month.

Despite its slanted landing, Intuitive Machines became the first private business to join the elite group. Another U.S. company, Astrobotic Technology, gave it a try last month, but didn’t make it to the moon because of a fuel leak.

Intuitive Machines almost failed, too. Ground teams did not turn on the switch for the lander’s navigating lasers before the Feb. 15 liftoff from Florida. Flight controllers were forced to use a NASA device as an experiment because of the oversight, which was discovered after Odysseus was circling the moon.

The Apollo astronauts walked on the moon from 1969 to 1972. The United States did not launch another moon landing mission until last month. The first commercial flight to promote delivery to the moon was by Astrobotic.

The Japanese Moon-lander unexpectedly survives the lunar night: JAXA, a roller coaster ride through a snowy night

The lunar surface is not designed to survive the deep cold night. JAXA had remained hopeful that it could make it through the night, said Shinichiro Sakai, project manager of SLIM. He says they felt they should have a chance since they knew that some NASA’s Surveyors had survived.

He believes the lander’s communications system, onboard computer and solar panels are working. JAXA posted on their website that they were trying to take a new set of images with the multiband spectroscopic camera.

SLIM has had a roller coaster ride. JAXA lost contact with SLIM for some days when it rolled upside down. With its solar panels oriented the wrong way, it had only a trickle of energy with which to snap a photo and send it home before lunar night fell. The next lunar sunset for SLIM will take place on Thursday.

When electronic circuit boards are too warm or cold it can fail, because they are made with different materials and the contraction rate is different, says a planetary scientist. He says it can cause components to crack or be pulled apart.

Source: Japanese Moon-lander unexpectedly survives the lunar night

The Landing of Two Extremely Large-Scale Spacecraft: How to Adapt and How to Interact with the Technology and Crew

The two recent spacecraft were built within many constraints, in particular cost, which places limits on their size and technology. “The two landers got almost everything right, but went awry at the last moments,” he says.

The teams obtained lots of data that will help inform future attempts. The best way to land successful is to keep learning from previous attempts, according to Barber.