The Odysseus lander landed on the Moon last week, but faced a number of challenges to do so, including a broken leg or more
Odysseus, Intuitive Machines’ private module, faced several challenges during its Moon landing, including one or more broken legs. Despite this, the probe landed on the surface of our natural satellite, marking the first landing of a North American spacecraft since that of Apollo 17in 1972.
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During descent to the lunar surface on the 22nd, the Odysseus (or Odie, as it is affectionately called by its crew) suffered a failure in its navigation equipment. In addition to going faster than expected, he ended up landing in a region with higher relief than his target.
“So we hit harder and skidded along the way,” said Steve Altemus, CEO and co-founder of Intuitive Machines, during a press conference on Wednesday (28). According to him, the landing gear took the strongest impact and he ended up with one or two broken legs.
Taken on February 27, flight controllers ordered Odysseus to capture a new image using its narrow-field-of-view camera. Previous attempts to send photos from the landing and the days following returned unusable images. After successfully transmitting the image to Earth, the flight… pic.twitter.com/Qv0C3aSV9H
— Intuitive Machines (@Int_Machines) February 28, 2024
Despite what happened, Ulysses landed upright, but remained that way for only 2 seconds. Finding himself in an area with an inclination of 12º, he began to tip over and ended up stopping at about 30º from the horizontal; What keeps it from falling are its tanks and other supporting parts.
The location prevented Ulysses from using his antenna to communicate with Earth, and also ended up blocking much of the light that should have fallen on his planes. solar panels. Fortunately, the lander’s other antennas were able to transmit photos and data to Earth.
As the lunar night approached, Intuitive Machines hoped to deactivate Odie on Wednesday, but that appears not to have happened. “Still functional, Ulysses continues to operate on the lunar surface,” they wrote in a post on X earlier today Twitter.
Still in motion, Ulysses continues to operate on the lunar surface. Around 11:00 CST the flight controllers plan to downlink additional data and command Odie into a configuration that she will be able to call home if and when she wakes up when the sun rises again.
(29FEB2024 0922 CST)
— Intuitive Machines (@Int_Machines) February 29, 2024
According to the company, flight controllers would download the remaining data around 2pm Brasilia time, “and order Odie into a configuration where he can ‘call home’ if and when he wakes up when the sun rises again,” they concluded. .
Odie will face about two weeks of lunar night, marked by temperatures of -130 ºC. Since the mission was expected to last just over a week at most, the cold of the lunar night could damage the lander’s electronic components and batteries.
Source: Via: Space.com
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Rose James is a Gossipify movie and series reviewer known for her in-depth analysis and unique perspective on the latest releases. With a background in film studies, she provides engaging and informative reviews, and keeps readers up to date with industry trends and emerging talents.
