Moon lander tipped sideways on lunar surface but 'alive and well'

Reuters ^ | February 23, 20247:19 PM CST | By Steve Gorman and Joey Roulette

[Red Badger]

Feb 23 (Reuters) - The moon lander dubbed Odysseus is "alive and well" but resting on its side a day after its white-knuckle touchdown as the first private spacecraft ever to reach the lunar surface, and the first from the U.S. since 1972, the company behind the vehicle said on Friday. The vehicle is believed to have caught one of its six landing feet on the lunar surface near the end of its final descent and tipped over, coming to rest sideways, propped up on a rock, an analysis of data by flight engineers showed, according to Houston-based Intuitive Machines (LUNR.O), opens new tab. Still, all indications are that Odysseus "is stable near or at our intended landing site" close to a crater called Malapert A in the region of the moon's south pole, said Stephen Altemus, chief executive officer of Intuitive Machines, which built and flew the lander. "We do have communications with the lander," and mission control operators are sending commands to the vehicle, Altemus said, adding that they were working to obtain the first photo images from the lunar surface from the landing site. A brief update on the mission's status posted to the company's website earlier on Friday described Odysseus "alive and well." The company had said shortly after touchdown on Thursday that radio signals indicated Odysseus, a 13-foot-tall hexagonal cylinder, had landed in an upright position, but Atlemus said that faulty conclusion was based on telemetry from before the landing. Although the lander's horizontal position is far from ideal, company officials said that all but one of the six NASA science and technology payloads were mounted on portions of the vehicle left exposed and receptive to communications, "which is very good for us," Altemus said.

[StAnDeliver]

So they’ve got like 10 days before the polar night shuts off the batts. Why not, on the 10th day, fire up the engine like an artillery rocket, calculate a controlled arc to China’s Chang’e 4 rover and livestream a pay-per-view.

[EVO X]

We had a Mars lander that was incorrectly programmed in landing velocity (confusing meters and feet)

I am guessing 50/50 between a software error and a hardware error. The Juno spacecraft lost a thruster while entering Jupiter's orbit. NASA was able to salvage the mission. The Odysseus mission landed at a tough spot on the moon which is about 180 miles from the south pole.

[Revel]

Thank you for that long and detailed explanation. Very interesting.

[minnesota_bound]

This happened to the other lander too.
Coincidence? I think not!

Maybe it was the same moon monster that attack the Apollo 18 crew... : )
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZgD89VYkVc

[linMcHlp]

An arrival, not a “landing.”

[Texan4Life]

Announcing “Life Alert” for Lunar Landers...
(Response times may vary.)

[Openurmind]

And it fell over... lol

I want to know why the taxpayers through NASA footed the bill for a private company to profit from this project. Let them fund it themselves. Now their loss is our loss. What a waste of money. It they had just said “no, fund it yourself”...

https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/4219911/posts