Cape Canaveral: A private American lunar lander swerved upon landing and ended up on its side near the moon's south pole, disrupting communications, company officials said.
Intuitive Machines, the company that made the six-foot lander, initially said the Odysseus lander was upright after landing. But on Saturday (AEDT), CEO Steve Altimus said the rover “landed with its foot on the roof and flipped over” and landed on its side, likely leaning on a rock.
Steve Altemus, CEO and co-founder of Intuitive Machines, describes how the company's Odysseus spacecraft is believed to have landed on the moon.credit: AP
“So far, we have a great deal of operational capacity even though we have flipped,” he said.
But some antennas were pointed toward the surface, limiting flight controllers' ability to communicate and obtain the correct data, Altimus said.
He said the lander was “near or at the intended landing site.” Houston's company aims to land in the Antarctic region, near Malapert A crater, which is closer to the pole than anyone else, so NASA can explore the region before astronauts show up later this decade.
This was the first American landing on the moon in more than 50 years since the Apollo era. CSIRO's Moriang Radio Telescope, based at Parkes in central western New South Wales, provided support by channeling tracking data from the spacecraft on its million-kilometre journey.
The Odysseus spacecraft captured an image of Australia shortly after liftoff on February 15, as Cyclone Lincoln formed over the north of the country.credit: Intuitive machines
With the landing, Intuitive Machines became the first private company to successfully land on the moon, an achievement that only five countries had previously achieved. The mission was largely sponsored by NASA, which had experiments on board. NASA paid $118 million ($180 million) for the delivery under a program aimed at stimulating the lunar economy.
One of NASA's experiments was brought into service when the lander's navigation system failed in the last few hours before landing. The lander took an extra orbit around the Moon to allow time for a last-minute switch to NASA's laser system.
