It turns out that Intuitive Machines' Odysseus spacecraft didn't land upright after all. in a Press conference On Friday night with NASA, the company revealed that the lander was on its side after arriving a little faster than expected, likely trapping its foot on the surface at the time of landing. Fortunately, Odysseus is positioned in such a way that its solar panels still receive enough sunlight to keep it charged, and the team has been able to communicate with it. Surface images should arrive soon.
While the initial assessment was that Odysseus had landed correctly, further analysis indicated otherwise. Intuitive Machines CEO and co-founder Steve Altemus said “outdated telemetry” was to blame for the above reading.
However, all of the payloads, except for one static art installation (Jeff Koons' moon phase sculptures), are face up. NASA's lander and its science payloads have been collecting data from the trip, descent and landing, which the team will use to try to better understand what happened. But all things considered, he seems to be doing well.
The team plans to eject the EagleCam, developed by students at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, so it can take a photo of the lander and its surroundings perhaps as soon as this weekend. It was supposed to be ejected during descent to capture the moment of landing, but problems on landing day prevented it from being released.
Once Odysseus was in lunar orbit and within hours of its landing attempt, the team discovered that its laser rangefinders, which are key to its precision navigation, were not working, due entirely to human error. According to Altemus, someone forgot to flip a safety switch that would allow them to turn on, so they couldn't. Realizing that was “like a punch in the gut,” Altemus said, and they thought they might lose the mission.
Fortunately, the team was able to make a last-second adjustment prepared on the fly by Intuitive Machines CTO and co-founder Tim Crain, who suggested they use one of NASA's onboard payloads to guide the descent, the Navigation Doppler LIDAR. . (NDL). In the end, Odysseus got there safely. His mission is expected to last just over a week, until lunar night falls.
