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☆ Odysseus Moon Lander to Power Down, With Aim to Extend Time on Surface
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-28 | by ( Kenneth Chang | More About Kenneth Chang | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Odysseus is not dead yet. But it will soon be time to say, “Good night, moon lander.”Last week, Odysseus, a privately built robotic lunar lander, became the first American spacecraft to set down on the moon in more than 50 years, and the first nongovernmental effort ever to accomplish that feat. But like the Homeric Greek hero it was named after, the lander has not had an easy journey with a neat happy ending. In a news conference on Wednesday, Intuitive Machines, the Houston-based company that built Odysseus, said the spacecraft continued to operate, but that it would be put into a planned shutdown later on Wednesday. “We’ve conducted a very successful mission,” said Steve Altemus, the chief executive of Intuitive Machines.

Persons: Odysseus, “ We’ve, ”, Steve Altemus Locations: Houston

☆ New images share unprecedented view of how Odysseus spacecraft landed on the moon
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-28 | by ( Jackie Wattles | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —Remarkable new images from the Odysseus mission capture the spacecraft — the first US-made vehicle to make a soft touchdown on the moon in five decades — in the moments directly after its harrowing and historic touchdown on the lunar surface. Intuitive Machines, the Houston-based company that developed the Odysseus lander, shared the photos at a news briefing Wednesday. Mission controllers were celebrating the success, cheering “what a magnificent job that robust, lucky lander did all the way to the moon,” said Intuitive Machines CEO Steve Altemus. As of NASA and Intuitive Machines’ last news briefing on Friday, the state of spacecraft and all of its science instruments was not yet clear. Many of the instruments on board Odysseus were designed to collect information as the spacecraft was in transit to the moon and during the crucial moments of descent toward the lunar surface.

Persons: Odysseus, —, ”, Steve Altemus Organizations: CNN, NASA, Canadensys Aerospace Locations: Houston, Toronto

☆ Space photos from 5 recent moon-landing missions show how tiny engineering errors can cause big problems, like crashing or landing sideways
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-27 | by ( Morgan Mcfall-Johnsen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

The Houston-based company's uncrewed Odysseus lander was almost lost to one of the tiniest possible mistakes. The view from the Intuitive Machines Odysseus lander as it descended to its landing site. Intuitive MachinesWith less than two hours to go before landing, Intuitive Machines engineers frantically whipped up a new navigation system. Indeed, several robotic moon landing attempts have crashed or otherwise malfunctioned in the last few years. Similarly, Intuitive Machines' success on Thursday shows that small errors don't necessarily have to spell the end of a mission.

Persons: Steve Altemus, Trent Martin, Odysseus, Astrobotic —, Peregrine, Astrobotic Astrobotic, Astrobotic, Vikram, SpaceNews, Robert Braun, Kailasavadivoo Sivan, ispace, NASA's, Braun, Japan's Smart Lander, SLIM, LEV, Takara Tomy Organizations: US, Business, NASA, Reconnaissance, Goddard, Arizona State University, Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, NASA's Goddard Space Flight, freefall, JAXA, Takara, Sony Group Corporation, Doshisha Locations: India, Japan, Houston

☆ Lunar landing photos: Intuitive Machines' Odysseus sends back first images from the moon
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-26 | by ( Michael Sheetz | In Michaeljsheetz | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Intuitive Machines CEO Steve Altemus explains how the company's IM-1 lander tipped over on the moon's surfacing during a NASA press conference on Feb. 22, 2023. Intuitive Machines' cargo lander, Odysseus, returned its first images from the moon's surface over the weekend, as the spacecraft settles in to its lunar destination. The company's historic IM-1 mission is now operating on the moon after landing on Thursday, becoming the first privately developed spacecraft to soft land on the lunar surface. Intuitive Machines expects Odysseus to operate until Tuesday morning, when its solar panels will no longer be exposed to the sun. The Odysseus lander carried 12 government and commercial payloads — six of which are for NASA under a $118 million contract through the agency's Commercial Lunar Payload Services, or CLPS, initiative.

Persons: Steve Altemus, Odysseus Organizations: NASA, Payload Services

☆ Intuitive Machines almost lost its moon lander because somebody forgot to flip a switch before launch
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-24 | by ( Morgan Mcfall-Johnsen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

A serendipitous moment, a NASA experiment, and frantic, innovative software engineering rescued the company's Odysseus lander from what could have been a catastrophic error — a switch that didn't get flipped before launch. NASA TVIt was a "spicy" landing, Altemus said. AdvertisementThe Houston-based company flew Odysseus, which is its Nova-C-model lander, to the moon on a $118 million NASA contract. Its success marks the first commercial moon landing ever and NASA's first return to the lunar surface since 1972. It was risky — the NASA lasers were on the lander to test whether they worked in space at all — but it was better than nothing.

Persons: —, Steve Altemus, Altemus, Odysseus, Frankenstein, Robert Braun, Tim Crain, Crain, Braun Organizations: Service, NASA, Business, Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory Locations: Mars

☆ Odysseus lunar lander is sideways on the moon after historic touchdown
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-23 | by ( Jackie Wattles | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —The Odysseus lunar lander is sideways on the moon, Intuitive Machines, the company that built the vehicle, said during a news conference Friday. Steve Altemus, chief executive officer and cofounder of Intuitive Machines, uses a model to represent how the Odysseus spacecraft landed on the moon. ‘A punch in the stomach’Notably, Intuitive Machines realized prior to descent that Odysseus had a faulty piece of navigation equipment. The hack ultimately worked, and the spacecraft made it to the lunar surface in operational condition. All told, Odysseus will likely be able to spend about nine days operating on the lunar surface, according to Tim Crain, Intuitive Machines’ chief technology officer.

Persons: Odysseus, Odie ”, Steve Altemus, NASA “, ” Altemus, Altemus, Joel Kearns, ” Kearns, “, Tim Crain, Odie, ”, ” Crain Organizations: CNN, Machines, NASA, NASA’s Langley Research Center, Apollo

☆ Live updates: Odysseus moon landing
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-22 | by ( Elise Hammond | Jackie Wattles | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

Intuitive Machines Co-Founder, President, and CEO Steve Altemus talks about the IM-1 Lunar Lander, Nova-C, during a press event, in Houston, in October 2023. Jonathan Newton/The Washington Post/Getty ImagesIntuitive Machines is a Houston-based company just up the road from NASA's Johnson Space Center, or JSC. It's one of several private-sector companies that have been tasked by the space agency to get robotic landers to the moon as NASA works on separate plans to return its astronauts. But it was later renegotiated, and — all told — Intuitive Machines could receive up to $118 million from NASA for this mission. Its stock has been on a tear recently amid its successes in space, surging up about 80% over the past five days as of Thursday afternoon.

Persons: Steve Altemus, Jonathan Newton, Steve Atlemus, JSC Kamal Ghaffarian, Tim Crain, landers Organizations: Washington Post, NASA's Johnson Space Center, JSC, NASA, Payload Services Locations: Nova, Houston, NASA's

☆ Moon landing attempt: Odysseus ran into last-minute navigation issues
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-22 | by ( Jackie Wattles | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

CNN —Intuitive Machines’ IM-1 lander, also called Odysseus or “Odie,” is on the lunar surface after experiencing unexpected issues hours prior to landing. “Intuitive Machines made the decision to reassign the primary navigation sensors from Odysseus … to use the sensors on NASA’s Navigation Doppler Lidar,” according to the webcast. With its landing legs and sensors pointed toward the lunar terrain, Odysseus relied on the Lidar payload to locate a safe landing spot. The IM-1 mission comes amid a renewed international dash for the lunar surface. Odysseus passes over the near side of the moon following lunar orbit insertion on February 21.

Persons: Odie, ”, Steve Altemus, Odysseus, Gary Jordan, …, landers, Farzin, Jeff Koons, We’re, ” Altemus, Altemus Organizations: CNN, NASA, Soviet, Columbia, Embry, Riddle Aeronautical University, Astrobotic Technology, Peregrine, Payload Services Locations: China, India, Japan, Malapert, Daytona Beach , Florida

☆ Intuitive Machines’ Odysseus: Why moon-landing missions are hard to do
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-21 | by ( Kristin Fisher | Jackie Wattles | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +12 min

The lunar lander called Odysseus or IM-1, created by Houston-based company Intuitive Machines, is barreling toward the moon. If it fails, Odysseus would become the third lunar lander to meet a fiery demise on the moon in less than a year. Russia’s first lunar lander mission in 47 years, Luna 25, failed in August 2023 when it crash-landed. Overall, more than half of all lunar landing attempts have ended in failure — tough odds for a feat humanity first pulled off nearly 60 years ago. The US remains the only country to have put humans on the lunar surface, most recently in 1972 with the Apollo 17 mission.

Persons: Odysseus, Luna, Ispace, Japan —, hasn’t, Scott Pace, George Washington, “, ” Pace, Artemis, ”, Greg Autry, “ There’s, India’s, Jitendra Singh, Satish, Satish Baby, ” Singh, Astrobotic, Steve Altemus, it’s, Glynn Lunney, ” Autry, “ Neil, Armstrong, “ We’ve, Joel Kearns Organizations: CNN, Technology, Policy Institute, ”, Arizona State University’s Thunderbird School of Global Management, State for Science, Indian Space Research Organisation, Space, Getty, Economic Times, NASA, Payload Services, Johnson Space Center, AP Locations: United States, Houston, Japan, Soviet, States, China, India, Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh, AFP, New York, Los Angeles, what's

☆ Intuitive Machines stock spikes as lunar company's first moon mission begins
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-15 | by ( Michael Sheetz | In Michaeljsheetz | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Shares of Intuitive Machines spiked in early trading on Thursday, as the space company began its first mission to the moon's surface earlier in the morning. A SpaceX rocket launched Intuitive's IM-1 mission successfully. The cargo lunar lander, loaded with research, is headed for the moon and Intuitive expects to make a landing attempt next week. Intuitive's stock rose as much 25% in trading before pairing gains to trade about 22% up from its previous close at $4.98 a share. "You could make money a whole lot of ways – but this isn't just about making money.

Persons: Steve Altemus Organizations: SpaceX, Kennedy Space Center, CNBC Locations: Cape Canaveral , Florida

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Another private U.S. company took a shot at the moon Thursday, launching a month after a rival’s lunar lander missed its mark and came crashing back. NASA, the main sponsor with experiments on board, is hoping for a successful moon landing next week as it seeks to jumpstart the lunar economy ahead of astronaut missions. SpaceX’s Falcon rocket blasted off in the middle of the night from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, dispatching Intuitive Machines’ lunar lander on its way to the moon, 230,000 miles (370,000 kilometers) away. If all goes well, a touchdown attempt would occur Feb. 22, after a day in lunar orbit. Only five countries — the U.S., Russia, China, India and Japan — have scored a lunar landing and no private business has yet done so.

Persons: NASA’s, Japan —, Steve Altemus, Astrobotic, Gene Cernan, Harrison Schmitt, let’s, Trent Martin, Jeff Koons, Embry Organizations: NASA, NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, Pacific, Columbia, Riddle, Associated Press Health, Science Department, Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science, Educational Media Group, AP Locations: CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla, U.S, Russia, China, India, Japan, Houston, Antarctica, Israeli, Tokyo

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