VIDEO: Intuitive Machines CEO Steve Altemus’s opening remarks at the press conference plus additional photos of the landing.
HOUSTON — NASA and Intuitive Machines discussed the private company’s first mission, known as IM-1, in a Wednesday afternoon event from Johnson Space Center.
The lander, called Odysseus, carried six NASA science instruments to the South Pole region of the Moon as part of the agency’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative, and Artemis campaign. The IM-1 mission is the first U.S. soft landing on the Moon in more than 50 years, successfully landing on Feb. 22, albeit ending up on its side.
Intuitive Machines posted new photos of the moon’s unexplored south polar region Tuesday.
The company’s lander, captured the shots last Thursday shortly before making the first U.S. touchdown on the moon in more than 50 years. Odysseus landed on its side, hampering communication and power generation.
Once sunlight can no longer reach the lander’s solar panels, operations will pause, and possibly end. Intuitive Machines previously expected that to happen sometime between Tuesday afternoon and early Wednesday, however the press conference team noted they were still receiving data from Odysseus.
The mission, part of NASA’s effort to boost the lunar economy, was supposed to last until at least Thursday, when lunar nighttime sets in. Though Intuitive Machines representatives stated one of their experiments involves trying to awaken the lander once the sun returns to that part of the moon. NASA has six experiments on board.
Intuitive Machines is the first private business to land a spacecraft on the moon without crashing. Another U.S. company launched its own lunar lander last month, but a fuel leak doomed the mission and the craft came crashing back to Earth.
