Moon Lander Odysseus Falls on Side after Landing

February 26th, 2024

A space company called Intuitive Machines sent a small robot to the moon. It had to travel over 600,000 miles to get there. Its job was to land near a place called Malapert A. The robot's name is Odysseus. It had a problem when it was trying to land and it fell on its side. There were cameras in space that took pictures of Odysseus landing on the moon. These pictures helped to show that it did land close to the right place, even though it was not standing up straight. The robot had special tools to help it land, but they had to fix one tool right before the robot landed. This tool helped Odysseus land in the right place. Because Odysseus is lying on its side, it is hard for it to talk to people on Earth. The sun gives it power, but it will not get sunlight soon. This means Odysseus will stop working earlier than planned. Odysseus is important because it is the first robot from the United States to land on the moon in a very long time. It was carrying experiments for NASA, who paid a lot of money for this mission. Other people also had things on Odysseus that they wanted to send to the moon. People are interested in the south pole of the moon because there might be water there. NASA wants to send astronauts to this place soon. Even though Odysseus did not land the right way, it still did something very special by getting to the moon. Only a few countries have sent robots to the moon before. Intuitive Machines is one of the first private companies to do this. Another company tried too, but they had a problem and could not get to the moon. The people who made Odysseus almost had a big problem because they forgot to turn on a switch before they sent it to space. But a special tool from NASA helped Odysseus land. A long time ago, astronauts from the United States walked on the moon. After that, there were no more moon landings for many years. Now, the United States wants to start sending things to the moon again with the help of companies like Intuitive Machines. They plan to send more missions to the moon soon. The company that wrote this story does not make the space missions, they just tell people about them.

AI isn't perfect, so some things may be inaccurate. We don't necessarily endorse the views or information you see here and provide it for language learning purposes only.

💭 Discussion Questions

. What was the name of the small robot that went to the moon?

. Why is it difficult for Odysseus to communicate with Earth now?

. Why are people interested in the south pole of the moon?

📖 Vocabulary

🌐 Cultural context

The United States has a history of space exploration. NASA is the government agency that deals with space. Private companies are now also involved in sending missions to space. Moon exploration is of interest for science and future missions.

🧠 Further reading

Commercial Lunar Payload Services

NASA has a special program called Commercial Lunar Payload Services, or CLPS. This program asks companies to send robots to the Moon. These robots, like small landers and rovers, go mostly to the Moon's south pole. There, they look for things we can use, try out new ways to use Moon resources and learn more about the Moon. This helps another NASA program called Artemis. The companies that work with NASA have to do everything needed to send things to the Moon and make sure they work there. This includes getting a rocket ready, landing on the Moon, and making sure everything works on the Moon's surface. NASA pays a set price for these services. After 2025, they also want to send bigger things to the Moon. CLPS is managed by different parts of NASA. So far, they have made deals for eight missions. Two missions had problems because one company got an award but then it was taken back, and another company could not do it because they ran out of money. NASA has wanted to explore the Moon and its resources for a long time. They have many ideas for things to send to the Moon for science and learning. A few years ago, NASA planned to send a rover called Resource Prospector, but they stopped the plan. In 2018, NASA decided to use the CLPS program to keep exploring the Moon with the help of businesses. They asked companies to tell them how they could help, and after some time, they started choosing companies for the missions.

Centennial Challenges

NASA has special competitions called the Centennial Challenges. These contests are for people in the United States who are not in the government and make new space technology. The competitions are named Centennial to remember 100 years since the Wright brothers first flew their airplane in 1903. These brothers did something very important for airplanes, and NASA's contests are like that too. In history, there were other big contests for making technology. For example, people won prizes for making clocks for ships, flying across the Atlantic Ocean first, creating private spaceships, and making self-driving cars. People like these contests because you only get the prize money if you finish the challenge. Long ago, experts said the US government should have more contests like this for science and technology. Because of this advice, and help from the X PRIZE team, NASA started the Centennial Challenges. NASA is one of the top three US government groups that buy a lot of things. The other two are the Department of Energy and the Department of Defense. Now, the Department of Energy might start their own prize for new ideas about hydrogen energy. The idea of these prizes is to help more people try new things, even if they don't usually work with the government.

Space technology

Space technology helps us explore and use space. It includes things like spacecraft, satellites, and space stations. These are important for many services on Earth, such as weather reports, understanding the Earth, and TV stations. Space technology can lead to new inventions that help other parts of our world too. A long time ago, the first thing to go to space was from the Soviet Union. This first satellite was called Sputnik 1 and it went into space on October 4, 1957. It sent back information by making radio beeps. The first person in space was Yuri Gagarin from the Soviet Union in 1961. His space trip was controlled from the ground because people were not sure how being in space would affect him. The Soviet Union also sent the first probe to touch the Moon in 1959. A probe is like a space robot that can take pictures or collect information. The other side of the Moon was also photographed by the Soviet Union. In 1968, three American astronauts on Apollo 8 flew around the Moon. They were the first people to see the whole planet Earth from space.