The primary profitable personal moon-landing mission is formally over.On Feb. 22, Intuitive Machines’ Odysseus spacecraft, affectionately referred to as Odie, touched down close to the lunar south pole, changing into the primary business car ever to ace a moon touchdown.The solar-powered Odie operated on the lunar floor for seven Earth days, then went silent after the solar went down at its touchdown web site. This was the anticipated size of the lander’s floor mission, however Intuitive Machines held out some hope that Odie would get up when daylight bathed its photo voltaic arrays as soon as extra. In spite of everything, Japan’s SLIM moon lander bounced again from its lunar slumber late final month.Over the weekend, nevertheless, we discovered that Odie’s eyes will stay closed for good.Associated: Goodnight, Odysseus. Intuitive Machines’ personal moon lander goes offline — however may it rise once more?”Intuitive Machines began listening for Odie’s wake-up sign on March 20, after we projected sufficient daylight would probably cost the lander’s energy system and activate its radio,” the Houston-based firm mentioned in a publish on X on Saturday (March 23).”As of March twenty third at 1030 A.M. Central Customary Time, flight controllers determined their projections had been appropriate, and Odie’s energy system wouldn’t full one other name residence. This confirms that Odie has completely pale after cementing its legacy into historical past as the primary business lunar lander to land on the moon,” Intuitive Machines added in one other Saturday publish.Breaking area information, the newest updates on rocket launches, skywatching occasions and extra!The “projections” in that latter publish are the corporate’s authentic prelaunch predictions — that Odie’s electronics wouldn’t survive the intense chilly of the lengthy lunar evening. (The moon’s day-night cycle takes almost a month to finish, so nighttime on Earth’s nearest neighbor lasts about two weeks.)A selfie snapped by Intuitive Machines’ Odysseus lander on the floor of the moon on Feb. 22, 2024. The corporate shared this shot by way of X on Feb. 29, 2024, the day Odie powered down. (Picture credit score: Intuitive Machines)Odysseus launched on Feb. 15 atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, carrying 12 payloads towards the moon. Six had been NASA experiments that the company placed on board by way of a $118 million contract from its Business Lunar Payload Providers program, or CLPS, and 6 had been personal payloads belonging to a wide range of clients.The 14.1-foot-tall (4.3 meters) Odie reached lunar orbit on Feb. 21 and landed a day later close to Malapert A, a crater about 190 miles (300 kilometers) from the moon’s south pole.That touchdown turned out to be dramatic. Odie got here in a bit quicker than it was presupposed to, due to an issue with its laser rangefinders, and ended up breaking a number of of its six touchdown legs through the landing. Because of this, the spacecraft tipped over onto its facet.However Odie may nonetheless operate in its supine state. NASA received knowledge again from all 5 of its energetic payloads, company officers mentioned after the historic landing. (The sixth NASA payload is a passive laser reflector array that is designed to assist different lunar spacecraft navigate.)”The underside line is that each payload has met some degree of their goal, and we’re very enthusiastic about that,” Sue Lederer, CLPS mission scientist at NASA’s Johnson Area Heart in Houston, mentioned throughout a press briefing on Feb. 28.A selfie snapped by Intuitive Machines’ Odysseus spacecraft on the moon on Feb. 27, 2024. (Picture credit score: Intuitive Machines by way of X)NASA and Intuitive Machines see Odie’s touchdown as the primary of many pulled off by personal spacecraft within the coming years. For instance, Intuitive Machines’ CLPS contract calls for 3 moon landings, and the corporate hopes to launch its second mission later this 12 months.Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic additionally received a CLPS deal. Its first effort, with a lander referred to as Peregrine, led to failure this previous January when the craft suffered a propellant leak shortly after deploying from its rocket. Astrobotic is engaged on its subsequent CLPS mission, which can use a much bigger lander referred to as Griffin to place NASA’s ice-hunting VIPER rover down close to the lunar south pole. VIPER is presently scheduled to launch late this 12 months atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket. Â