Odysseus, the first US-built spacecraft to touch down on the moon in more than half a century, is tipping over on its side, according to an update from Nasa and Intuitive Machines, the company that built and operated the lander.
The robotic lander descended to the south polar region of the moon at 6:23 PM ET on Thursday. But several minutes passed before flight controllers could pick up a signal from the lander’s communications systems.
When it landed, Odysseus “caught a foot in the surface and tipped over,” Intuitive Machines CEO Steve Altemus said, landing on its side.
Still, the lander is “near or at our intended landing site”, he said. Nasa and Intuitive Machines said they have received data from the lander and believe most of the scientific instruments it carries are in a position to operate.
“It really was a magical, magical day,” Tim Crain, chief technology officer and co-founder of Intuitive Machines, said at the Friday press conference.
The area where Odysseus landed, near the crater Malapert A near the moon’s south pole, is a treacherous terrain, full of craters – but it was chosen because scientists believe it would be rich in frozen water that could help form a permanent lunar base to maintain. in the future.
Footage of the landing and a reconstruction of how it happened will likely be available in the coming days.
Nasa paid Intuitive Machines $118 million to undertake the trip, as part of the agency’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative, which awards contracts to private partners. The mission is part of the Artemis program to return astronauts to the moon.
During Odysseus’ seven-day mission, which will be solar-powered until the landing site moves into Earth’s shadow, Nasa hopes to analyze how land there reacted to the impact of the landing. The agency also sent other instruments as part of the lander’s payload, including communication devices.
The 14-foot (4.3-meter) hexagonal, six-legged lander used Nasa’s experimental laser navigation system to guide its descent after Intuitive Machines’ laser instrument failed.
An instrument called EagleCam, a cube with cameras designed by Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, was supposed to jump down 30 seconds before landing to capture photos of Odysseus’ landing, but the device was deliberately turned off during descent because the navigation system had to be switched.
Embry-Riddle’s Troy Henderson said his team will try to release EagleCam in the coming days so it can photograph the lander from about 26 feet (8 meters) away.
With ongoing uncertainty about Odysseus’ position on the moon, “it’s still an incredibly important task for us to get that final picture of the lander on the surface,” Henderson told the Associated Press.
