Odysseus managed to land on the lunar south pole for the first time in more than 50 years. However, the lander is lying on its side in a tipped position. The news has been confirmed by NASA and Intuitive Machines. The lander soft landed at 7.23 PM ET on February 22 near the crater Malapert A. Even after landing, it took some time for the lander to communicate with the flight controllers, which they called a faint signal. It’s interesting that we still don’t have any pictures because ISRO’s Chandrayaan-3 delivered images within 4 hours of the touchdown.
Tipped on the Lunar Surface
According to Intuitive Machines CEO Steve Altemus, the Odysseus caught a foot in the surface and tipped as it attempted to soft land on the Lunar surface. This resulted in the titling over of the lander but the NOVA-C lander is near or at our intended landing site. The data are being fetched from the lander by NASA and Intuitive Machines and the scientific instruments are still functional. Tim Crain, CTO of Intuitive Machines disclosed that it was really a magical day for the whole team.
Presence of Frozen Water
The company selected the Malapert A landing site because the area have the presence of frozen water that could support a future permanent lunar base. The site has plenty of craters on the surface, which is a challenging task. The company will most likely release landing video and images within the next few days.
NASA funded Intuitive Machines for $118 million for the whole mission. Odysseus was part of its Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program, which provides contracts to private players. The mission was also part of the Artemis program, which is designed to send humans back to the Moon.
Odysseus Misssion Details
Odysseus misssion was to study the ecology of the Moon for 7 days until the landing site goes into the Earth’s shadow. NASA intends to study whether lunar soil was affected by the landing, which will help future mannded Moon missions. The hexagonal-shaped lander has 6 legs with 4.3 metres tall.
The system deployed NASA’s laser navigation system during the descent stage after the in-house laser instrument from Intuitive Machines failed. Interestingly, EagleCam, a cube camera manufactured by Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University was designed to capture pictures and videos 30 seconds before soft landing. However, the camera was switched off during descent base of the change in the navigation system.
The team is still working to capture images via EagleCam, which is uncertain now taking into account the lander’s current position. We hope Intuitive Machines will release new pictures soon but is likely that the mission will end within 7 days if there is loss of communication. The revelation of faint signal says it all.
