Odysseus module sends its first images from the Moon

The Odysseus module, which reached the Moon last Thursday and became the first US spacecraft to reach a natural satellite over 50 yearshas sent its first images from the south pole of the Moon, as Intuitive Machines, the company that manufactured the device, reported this Monday.

Odysseus continues to communicate with mission controllers in Texas and has sent two images from its landing site, around Malapert A CraterThe southernmost point at which a vehicle has landed on the Moon and managed to establish communications.

module, Built by a private firm for the first time to reach the Moon, has sent two photographs, one of them taken during the vertical descent and a few moments before landing on the surface, and the other already taken from the ground, although of lower resolution.

Intuitive Machines revealed this Monday that they hope to be able to maintain contact with the module till tuesday morningWhich is what happens when your solar panels are no longer exposed to light.

That date announced today means short operating time It was initially planned and calculated in a teleconference held last week after landing, when mission managers indicated that it could operate for a maximum of ten days after landing.

Odysseus’s position is further confirmed NASA Lunar Reconnaissance OrbiterWhich has released photographs of the ship, which is located at an altitude of more than 2,500 meters above sea level and about 1.5 kilometers from its planned landing site.

After traveling more than 965,000 kmOdysseus managed to land with the help of NASA’s contingency system based on laser technology and which was enabled a few hours before landing.

The landing process was not without setbacks. As reported during the event broadcast, the Intuitive Machines tool that was supposed to be used for guidance during the descent failed and the company was forced to still use experimental tools From NASA.

US space agency has distributed $118 million (about 109 million euros) To transport scientific and technical instruments contained in six payloads, which are part of a total of twelve loads of the company’s Nova-C series modules.

In today’s update, the company Details not given On payload status.

ship, 4.3 meters tall and weighs 675 kgFlew in the fairing of the company Space’s Falcon 9 rocket

The area where the module landed is one of thirteen candidate areas for landing manned missions on the Moon. Artemis III From NASA, scheduled for September 2026.

The space agency believes this unknown area may be Accumulation of frozen water.