The U.S. spacecraft Odysseus, the first to land on the moon in more than half a century, has overturned, according to the latest information from NASA and Intuitive Machines, the company that built and operated the lander.
The robotic lander descended into the moon’s south pole region Thursday at 6:23 p.m. ET. However, several minutes passed before flight controllers were able to receive a signal from the lander’s communications system.
Intuitive Machines CEO Steve Altemus said Odysseus “took a foot in the water and tipped over” as it landed, causing it to end up on its side.
Still, the lander is “near or at the planned landing site,” he said. NASA and Intuitive Machines said they are receiving data from the lander and believe most of its scientific instruments are in working order.
“It was a truly magical, magical day,” Tim Crain, chief technology officer and co-founder of Intuitive Machines, said at a press conference Friday.
Odysseus landed near the Malapart A crater near the moon’s south pole, a treacherous, pockmarked terrain that scientists believe is rich in frozen water that could support life. , this area was selected. A permanent lunar base in the future.
Images and a reconstruction of the landing will be available within the next few days.
NASA paid Intuitive Machines $118 million to undertake this journey as part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative, which awards contracts to private partners. This mission is part of the Artemis program to return astronauts to the moon.
Odysseus’ seven-day mission will be fueled by solar power until the landing site moves into Earth’s shadow, where NASA will analyze how the soil there responded to the shock of landing. I’m thinking of doing it. The agency also sent other equipment, including communications equipment, as part of the lander’s payload.
The 4.3-meter-long, hexagonal, six-legged lander used NASA’s experimental laser navigation system to guide its descent after Intuitive Machines’ laser equipment failed.
An instrument called EagleCam, a cube equipped with a camera designed by Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, was to take off 30 seconds before touchdown to take pictures of Odysseus’ landing, but the navigation system The device was intentionally powered off during the descent as this was required. Can be switched.
Embry-Riddle’s Troy Henderson said his team will attempt to release the Eagle cam in the coming days, allowing it to photograph the lander from about 26 feet (8 meters) away.
While uncertainty remains about Odysseus’ location on the moon, “getting the last picture of the lander on the surface remains a critical challenge for us,” Henderson told The Associated Press. Ta.
