Unit Odysseusthe first North American spacecraft to land on the moon after the mission Apollo 17Intuitive Machines said the probe fell on its side upon landing in 1972, making communications difficult.
Company President Steve Altemus admitted on Friday that one of the feet of the six-foot-tall module got stuck on the moon's surface, causing it to fall. Odysseus Falling on its side, you will very likely hit a rock. “So far, we have a lot of operational capacity” despite the setback, Altimus told reporters.
But the president of Intuitive Machines said some antennas ended up being pointed at the moon's surface, limiting flight controllers' ability to obtain data.
The antennas were placed on top of the lander, at a height of 4.3 metres, to facilitate communications on the moon's south pole, a mountainous, cratered area with little sunlight.
However, Ultimus said that Odysseus It must be able to transmit scientific data and images to Earth. On Thursday, Odysseus landed in Malbert A crater, about 300 kilometers from the moon's south pole, where he will remain for about seven days until “night falls” in this region and the machine becomes inoperable.
The module, which carries NASA experiments, reached the surface of the moon seven days after its lift-off from the Kennedy Space Center, in Cape Canaveral, in Florida (southeast), supported by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
This was also the first North American private spacecraft to reach Earth's natural satellite, a feat achieved by only five countries. Another company tried last month, but it never reached the moon, and the vehicle crashed into Earth.
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