This is what the private American company which owns this probe announced Friday evening, 24 hours after the moon landing of the device, which was the first in more than 50 years.
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It did not arrive on the Moon vertically as planned. The probe from the American company Intuitive Machines probably found itself lying down during its moon landing, this private company announced on Friday February 23. The latter, however, specified that scientific data and images should still be able to be recovered.
The device notably transports scientific instruments from NASA, which wishes to explore the south pole of the Moon before sending its astronauts there, as part of its Artemis missions. He took off last week from Florida. After a descent of about an hour, the moon landing took place on Thursday at 5:23 p.m. Houston time (12:23 a.m. Paris time), where the company’s control room is located. The Odysseus probe, which measures more than 4 meters high, became the first American device to go to the Moon in more than 50 years.
The probe “caught its foot on the surface” of the Moon
But twists and turns, notably a failure of its navigation system, complicated the final descent. “We think” that Odysseus “footed on the surface and the lander overturned”, explained Steve Altemus, CEO and co-founder of Intuitive Machines, during a press conference. The company said Thursday evening that the plane had landed “standing”, but this assertion was based on erroneous data, he corrected.
Using a model of the lander, Steve Altemus showed the device on one side, but with its upper part probably resting on “a rock”allowing it to be partially “raised”, according to the analyzes of this young company, founded in 2013 and based in Houston, Texas. The lander still produces energy thanks to its solar panels and can therefore operate, he said, specifying that a NASA probe in lunar orbit should try to take photos “this week-end”which could confirm Odysseus’ exact location.
Nevertheless, the probe was able to capture an image of the Schomberger crater on the Moon about 200 km upstream of the planned landing site. This photo was published during the night from Friday to Saturday on the social network X.