The Odysseus module sends its first images from the moon

he Odysseus' lonelinessLast Thursday, it reached the moon and became the first American spacecraft to reach the natural moon In more than 50 yearsIntuitive Machines has sent its first images from the moon's south pole, Intuitive Machines, the device's manufacturer, said Monday.

Odysseus continues to communicate with mission controllers in Texas and sent two images of his landing site, near… Malaparte craterIt is the southernmost point where a vehicle has landed on the moon and was able to make contact.

Module, It was first manufactured by a private company to reach the moon, He sent two photos, one taken during the vertical landing and moments before touching down on the surface, and the other actually from the ground although in lower resolution.

Intuitive Machines revealed Monday that it expects to be able to maintain connectivity with the unit Until Tuesday morningwhich is the time during which the solar panels will not be exposed to light.

This date announced today means Less uptime Than was initially planned and what was calculated in a conference call 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 by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiterwhich published photos of the ship positioned more than 2,500 meters above sea level and about 1.5 kilometers from the planned landing site.

After making a trip over 965,000 kmOdysseus was able to land with the help of NASA's laser-based emergency system, which was activated hours before landing.

The landing process was not without setbacks. As reported during the event's broadcast, the Intuitive Machines instrument that was to be used for guidance during the landing did not work and the company was forced to… Use a tool that is still experimental From NASA.

The US Space Agency spent $118 million (about 109 million euros) To transport scientific and technological instruments contained in six payloads, which are part of the twelve payloads carried by the company's Nova-C series module in total.

In today's company update He did not give details On the condition of the loads.

the ship, Its length is 4.3 meters and its weight is 675 kglaunched in a Falcon 9 rocket fairing from the Space Company

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

The space agency believes there could be something in this unexplored region Frozen water sediments.