The American company Intuitive Machines, the first private company to successfully land on the moon, announced on Friday that its probe was probably lying on one side of the lunar surface, rather than vertically as announced the day before.
• Also read: The Odysseus probe lands on the moon; a first for the private sector
Intuitive Machines' Odysseus probe landed on the moon at 11:23 p.m. GMT on Thursday, after a final descent full of twists and turns, a failure in its navigation system and complicated communications shortly after landing.
“We believe” that Odysseus “got his foot caught on the surface and the lander tipped over,” Steve Altemus, CEO and co-founder of Intuitive Machines, said at a news conference.
Using a model of the lander, he showed the device on one side, with the upper part probably resting on “a rock” and so could be partially “lifted,” according to analyzes by the young company, founded in Houston, Texas, in 2013.
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The company said Thursday evening that the plane landed “upright,” but the data was incorrect, he added.
The lunar lander can still produce energy and therefore function thanks to its solar panels, he said, indicating that photos that should confirm Odysseus' position are expected “this weekend.”
This probe is the first American device to land on the moon in more than 50 years.
In particular, the device carries scientific instruments for NASA, which wants to explore the south pole of the moon before sending its astronauts there as part of its Artemis missions.
In addition to the images taken by Odysseus himself, a small camera-equipped device called EagleCam, developed by Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, had to be ejected from the lander at the last moment to capture the landing from outside.
Unfortunately, due to the complications that arose during this phase, the use of EagleCam has been postponed, the university announced on Friday. This is now planned during the ground mission, which would still allow an external view of the lander to be obtained.
Backup solution
Intuitive Machines has already received congratulations from around the world, including from rival companies that recently attempted the maneuver themselves without success: Japanese startup ispace, which crashed on the moon last year, and American startup Astrobotic, which failed reach the star in January.
The moon landing also represents a success for NASA, which signed a $118 million contract with Intuitive Machines to carry six scientific instruments called IM-1 on this mission.
One of them probably saved the trip. The lander's navigation system did not work as expected, so the company had to improvise.
During an additional lunar tour added just before the dreaded descent, employees programmed a NASA laser system at the last minute to control the lander.
This system, which is intended to improve the precision of landings, was to be activated in space for the first time in a test on this mission. But it was eventually successfully used as a primary navigation system.
Odysseus now has to operate for about seven days before night falls at the moon's south pole.
Lunar economy
This mission is the first for Intuitive Machines, but the second for NASA's new lunar delivery program called CLPS. A first mission, that of Astrobotic, failed last month.
Instead of sending scientific instruments to the moon using its own vehicles, the American space agency decided to contract this service from private companies.
This strategy should allow him to make the trip more often and for less money. But also to stimulate the development of a lunar economy that can enable a permanent human presence on the moon – one of the goals of NASA's Artemis program.
Intuitive Machines shares were up about 20% midday Friday on the New York Stock Exchange.
In total, four more US lunar missions are officially planned this year as part of the CLPS program, including two more from Intuitive Machines.