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Odysseus Moon Lande has less than a day before it freezes to death · Elon Musk Podcast

• 0:01
  Hey everybody, welcome back to the Elon Musk Podcast.
• 0:05
  This is a show where we discuss the critical Crossroads, The
• 0:08
  Shape, SpaceX, Tesla X, The Boring Company, and Neuralink,
• 0:13
  and I'm your host, Will Walden. If you want uninterrupted
• 0:17
  episodes of the Elon Musk podcast, please go to
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  clubelon.supercast.com to find out how.
• 0:25
  There's a link in the show notes the historic Odysseus Lander
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  which achieved the soft landing on the moon last Thursday.
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  It's facing a critical countdown.
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  The company behind the space venture, Intuitive Machines, has
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  indicated communication with the spacecraft might only be
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  possible until Tuesday morning due to its compromise position
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  and limited solar power collecting facilities.
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  Now the Landers predicament stems from its unintended
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  orientation flying on its side in some portion of position.
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  Amperage, Edibility. The harvest solar energy
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  efficient intuitive machines initially even for the Lander to
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  operate on the lunar surface for at least a week, but it's goal
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  is now unattainable. The diminishing sunlight as the
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  lunar night approaches spells absolute doom.
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  Protecius The prolonged darkness of the lunar night lasting 2
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  weeks will deprive the Lander of necessary solar power, leading
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  to its inevitable demands. Now, the root cause of the short
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  mission duration lies in the lander's landing dynamics.
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  Intuitive Machine CEO Steve Altimas revealed that while the
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  descent speed was within the design tolerances, an unexpected
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  lateral move then complicated the landing, possibly causing
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  the land in the tip went down pretty slow, 6 miles an hour
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  downwards in, two miles an hour across.
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  So it didn't have a modest speed, but since there's not a
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  lot of gravity on the moon, it tipped right over.
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  Now Altimas speculated that the lunar surface might have stagged
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  one of the Landers leg, leading to potential damage and a
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  subsequent toppling of a spacecraft.
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  This scenario suggests the Lander is not fully horizontal,
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  but slightly elevated, allowing for some solar and collection
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  efforts to reorient the Lander. Solar panels for better sunlight
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  exposure seem to have been unsuccessful.
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  With the available solar panels only able to provide power until
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  Tuesday morning and missions operational window is critically
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  limited and assistance from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance
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  Orbiter proved invaluable in pinpointing the Landers exact
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  location. This collaboration helped
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  ascertain the Landers challenging landing terrain with
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  a crater tilted at 12°. Now despite the compromise
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  position, intuitive machines remained optimistic about
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  fulfilling most of the Landers scientific objectives.
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  The company's executives believe that significant mission data
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  could still be transmitted back to Earth now.
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  The uncertainty now lies on whether there is sufficient time
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  to download all the planned data before the Lander loses power.
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  The latest updates from intuitive machines on this
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  matter have been a little bit sparse, and the prospect of
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  retrieving images from Odysseus remain uncertain.
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  Today. No surface images have been
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  shared, but there's hope that a student developed Cubesat camera
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  might capture and transmit images before the lander's power
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  is depleted. Now the mission's success is the
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  subject of debate. Odysseus represents a
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  groundbreaking endeavor as the first privately developed
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  spacecraft to achieve a soft landing.
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  Now, particularly near the challenging terrain of a lunar
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  pole, and despite not meeting all of its mission objectives,
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  the initial successful landing of Odysseus on the Moon is a
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  huge milestone. This achievement underscores the
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  capabilities of intuitive machines marks an important
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  moment in private lunar exploration.
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  Other challenges faced by Odysseus?
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  They're complex. Lunar landings are hard,
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  especially in less explored regions like the lunar poles,
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  and the mission's difficulties provide valuable lessons for
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  future lunar exploration missions.
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  Intuitive Machines and NASA have collaborated here and through
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  the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.
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  It's an important partnership. They can see the Lander.
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  Such collaborations can enhance mission success and provide
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  critical support in unforeseen circumstances on the lunar
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  surface, and the potential loss of Odysseus due to its power
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  constraints shows the importance of robust landing strategies in
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  the need for contingency plans in space missions.
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  This incident may influence the design and planning of future of
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  lunar Landers now. The outcome of this mission,
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  whether it deemed a success or partial failure, contributes to
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  the broader knowledge base of lunar exploration.
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  Every mission, regardless of its end result, offers insights that
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  can inform and improve subsequent endeavors.
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  And the fate of Odysseus serves as a reminder of how harsh and
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  unforgiving spaces the challenges encountered by the
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  Lander show the need for resilience and adaptability in
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  space technologies too. How This mission with this
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  historic soft lunar landing is a huge milestone, very important
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  in space exploration. And despite its one day
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  operational period, the experiences and data gathered
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  from this mission will undoubtedly contribute to the
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  advancement of lunar exploration and the future of space travel.
• 5:08
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