It turns out that Intuitive Machines’ spaceship Odysseus didn’t land flat. One Press conference With NASA on Thursday, the company revealed that the lander was lying on its side after entering a little faster than expected, possibly with its foot on the surface at the moment of landing. Fortunately, Odysseus was positioned so that its solar panels still received enough light from the sun to power it, and the team was able to communicate with it. Pictures from the surface should be coming soon.
An initial assessment indicated that Odysseus had landed properly, but further analysis indicated otherwise. Steve Altemus, CEO and co-founder of Intuitive Machines, said in an earlier reading that “old telemetry” was to blame.
All of the payloads except for one static art installation—Jeff Koons’ Phases of the Moon sculptures—are upside down. The lander and its NASA science payloads are collecting data from the journey, descent and landing, which the team is using to better understand what’s going on. But all things considered, it’s going well.
The team plans to release the EagleCam, developed by students at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, soon so it can take pictures of the lander and its surroundings, possibly as soon as this weekend. It was supposed to be dropped during landing to capture the moment of landing, but problems on the day of touchdown prevented it from being released.
When Odysseus was in lunar orbit and hours away from a landing attempt, the team discovered that its laser rangefinder, key to its precise navigation, was malfunctioning due entirely to human error. According to Altemus, someone forgot to turn the safety switch that allowed them to turn on, so they couldn’t. Altemus said the realization was “like a punch in the gut” and they thought they might lose the mission.
The team was thankfully able to make a last-second fix made by Intuitive Machines CTO and co-founder Tim Crain. (NDL). Finally, Odysseus got there for good. Its mission is expected to last a little more than a week until the lunar eclipse.
