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Shares of Intuitive Machines Inc. continued to fall on Monday after the space exploration company announced that its Odysseus lunar lander mission would be cut short.
Odysseus made history late Thursday by becoming the first commercial lander to reach the moon’s surface. However, the stock fell in extended trading on Friday after it was revealed that the lander tipped over on its side as it touched down near the moon’s south pole.
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The stock fell 36.4% on Monday. The decline marked the stock’s biggest decline since February 23, 2023, when it fell 75.24%, according to Dow Jones Market Data.
“Odysseus continues to communicate with flight controllers at Nova Control from the lunar surface,” the company said in a statement. “After understanding the end-to-end communication requirements, Odysseus transmitted images from the lunar surface to the Malapart A landing site during vertical descent, the most successful lunar landing to date and in communication with ground controllers. It represents the southernmost point at which communication could be established.”
Related: Intuitive Machines stock drops 32% after Odysseus lunar lander overturns
“Flight controllers will collect data until the lander’s solar panels are no longer exposed to light,” Intuitive Machines added. “Based on the positions of the Earth and the Moon, flight controllers are expected to continue communicating with Odysseus until Tuesday morning.”
The Associated Press reported that the shortened mission would be a few days short of the roughly one-week timeline that NASA and other Intuitive Machines customers had hoped for to communicate with the lander.
According to Space, the IM-1 mission will focus on plume-surface interaction, space and weather, interaction with the lunar surface, radio astronomy, precision landing technology, and communication and navigation nodes for future autonomous navigation technology. It is equipped with NASA equipment. agency.
The commercial moon landing is considered a key reconnaissance mission for NASA’s Artemis lunar exploration program. NASA announced last month that it is targeting the first Artemis mission to orbit the moon in September 2025, and the Artemis mission to land astronauts near the moon’s south pole in September 2026.
Related: Intuitive Machines stock soars 35% as Odysseus lander makes history by reaching the moon
In 2019, Israel’s Beresheet attempted to become the first civilian lander to the moon, but crashed during the landing attempt. Four years later, Japan’s civilian Hakuto R mission also failed to make a “soft landing” on the moon.
In January, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s unmanned smart lander for lunar surface exploration (SLIM) landed on the lunar surface, but images taken by the SLIM spacecraft showed the spacecraft upside down on the lunar surface. JAXA confirmed on Monday that the SLIM spacecraft survived the two-week lunar night and maintained communication capabilities. SLIM’s recovery from the cold moon night was described as “remarkable” by Space.com.
Last month, the US private space company Astrobotic Technology completed its arduous mission to land the Peregrine lander on the moon.
Like Astrobotic’s Peregrine lander, Intuitive’s Nova-C lander is part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative to deliver science and technology to the moon’s surface.
Related: Here are the space stocks to watch in 2024
According to Intuitive Machines, the Nova-C lander is scheduled for three missions to the moon, each with minor changes to the vehicle.
Contributed by Ray Mashaek.
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