According to officials from the company, a privately-owned American spacecraft attempting to land on the lunar surface in Cape Canaveral, Florida, tipped over upon touchdown and came to rest on its side near the southern pole of the moon, resulting in difficulties with communication.

Initially, Intuitive Machines thought their lander, Odysseus, was standing up after landing on Thursday. However, CEO Steve Altemus stated on Friday that the craft got stuck on the surface and fell onto its side, potentially leaning against a rock. He explained that it came in at a high speed and may have broken one of its legs.

According to the speaker, despite being tipped over, we still possess a significant amount of operational capability.

According to Altemus, certain antennas were directed towards the surface, which restricted the flight controllers from receiving data. These antennas were installed at a high position on the 14-foot lander in order to improve communication in the uneven, pockmarked, and shaded south polar area.

Odysseus, the initial American spacecraft to land on the moon in over 50 years, is believed to be only a short distance away from its planned landing location near the Malapert A crater. This site is approximately 200 miles (300 kilometers) from the southernmost point of the moon’s surface. NASA, the primary sponsor, aimed to get as close as feasible to the pole in order to survey the region before astronauts arrive in the coming years.

The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter from NASA will make an effort to determine the exact location of the lander while passing over it during the upcoming weekend.

On Thursday, Intuitive Machines successfully landed on the moon, making them the first private company to do so. This accomplishment has only been achieved by five countries in the past. Japan was the most recent country to land on the moon, but their lander ended up on its side last month.

NASA provided significant funding for Odysseus’ mission, with their experiments being included on the spacecraft. As part of a program aimed at boosting the lunar economy, NASA contributed $118 million for the delivery.

One of the NASA experiments was pressed into service when the lander’s navigation system did not kick in. Intuitive Machines caught the problem in advance when it tried to use its lasers to improve the lander’s orbit. Otherwise, flight controllers would not have discovered the failure until it was too late, just five minutes before touchdown.

“Serendipity is the perfect term,” stated Tim Crain, the mission director.

I discovered that the switch was not turned on prior to takeoff, which caused the system to not activate while in space.

Launched last week from Florida, Odysseus took an extra lap around the moon Thursday to allow time for the last-minute switch to NASA’s laser system, which saved the day, officials noted.

A different test involving a cube containing four cameras was intended to activate 30 seconds prior to touchdown in order to record images of Odysseus’ landing. However, the navigation switch caused Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University’s EagleCam to be turned off during the final descent, resulting in it remaining attached to the lander.

Troy Henderson from Embry-Riddle stated that his team aims to launch EagleCam within the next few days in order to capture images of the lander from a distance of approximately 26 feet (8 meters).

Henderson, speaking to The Associated Press, emphasized the significance of capturing the lander’s final image on the surface.

Intuitive Machines predicts that the solar-powered lander will only have one more week of activity on the moon, lasting nine to ten days at most, before the onset of lunar night.

The company was the second business to aim for the moon under NASA’s commercial lunar services program. Last month, Pittsburgh’s Astrobotic Technology gave it a shot, but a fuel leak on the lander cut the mission short and the craft ended up crashing back to Earth.

Prior to Thursday, the United States had not successfully reached the moon since December 1972, when Apollo 17’s Gene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt concluded NASA’s renowned moon-landing mission. The current initiative to bring astronauts back to the moon is called Artemis, after the mythical twin sister of Apollo. The first landing of an Artemis crew is scheduled for 2026 at the earliest.

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The Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group provides assistance to the Associated Press Health and Science Department. The AP is fully responsible for the content.

Source: wral.com