First private probe to land on the Moon is deactivated – 03/25/2024 – Science

Odysseus, the first private American probe to land on the Moon, was permanently deactivated after about a month on the Earth’s satellite, its manufacturer, Intuitive Machines, announced.

The device had been put to rest after seven days on the satellite, but the company’s engineers would attempt to reconnect it after the lunar night, once the Sun reappeared.

The probe, however, did not connect again, the company said last Saturday (23), on the social network X: “Odie has been disconnected forever.”

It was unlikely that the ship’s batteries would survive the intense cold of the lunar night.

On February 22 of this year, Odysseus became the first private probe to land on the Moon and the first American spacecraft to achieve this feat since the end of the Apollo program in 1972. However, it remained inclined on the lunar surface, in region of the South Pole, after a bumpy descent due to a failure in its navigation system.

Some of the probe’s solar panels continued to function and provide energy for the module, which transmitted photos and scientific data, mainly those collected by NASA instruments on board.

Both the American space agency and Intuitive Machines described the probe’s stay on the Moon as a success.