The first private mission to reach the Moon has suffered a problem that complicates its future

The lunar module of the American private company Intuitive machines arrived last Thursday on the Earth’s natural satellite it’s on his sidewhich complicates communications as confirmed in the last few hours by the company itself.

Intuitive Machines, founded in 2013 and based in Houston, Texas, initially reported that Ulysses module It was upright after landing at the Moon’s south pole. But the company’s CEO, Steve Altemus, said Friday that the vessel “remained stuck on the surface.” fall to the side and, most likely, remaining perched on a rock.

In this sense, he said that the module descended too quickly and may have broken one of its six legs: “Until now, despite the overturning, we have enough operational capacity,” he noted to reporters.

However, some of its antennas were pointed towards the surface, which limited the capacity of the controllers I fly to get data. The antennas were placed above the 4.3-meter-tall lander to facilitate communications in the rugged and shadowed region of the south pole.

Altemus claimed that the lunar lander can still produce energy thanks to its solar panels and, therefore, work. Furthermore, he specified that photos are expected “this weekend”, which should confirm the position.

The Odysseus is believed to be a few kilometers from the intended landing site, near the Malapert A crater, less than 300 kilometers from the south pole. NASA, the main customer, wanted to get as close to the pole as possible to explore the area before the arrival of astronauts in the next few years.

Historic moon landing

The probe landed on the Moon on Thursday at 11.23pm GMT despite the failures, such as a failure in its navigation system and a complicated communication shortly after the Moon landing. Thus, Intuitive Machines became the first private company in history to successfully reach the satellite. Furthermore, it marked the return of the United States to the Moon after 50 years.

Intuitive Machines has received congratulations from around the world, including rival companies that have unsuccessfully attempted to land on the Moon, such as Japan’s ispace, which crashed on the Moon last year, and America’s Astrobotic, which failed in January .

The moon landing It was also a great success for NASA, which signed a $118 million contract with Intuitive Machines to transport six scientific instruments on this mission, called IM-1.

One of them probably saved the trip. The lander’s navigation system didn’t work as expected, so the company had to improvise.

During an additional loop around the Moon shortly before descent, a NASA laser system was programmed at the last minute to guide the lunar lander.

This system was to be tested during the mission to improve the accuracy of future landings, but was used as the primary navigation system.

In addition to the images taken by the probe, it was planned to deploy a small vessel equipped with a camera and developed by Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, which was to be ejected at the last moment from the lunar lander to capture snapshots. .

The Odysseus is expected to operate for about seven days, before night falls over the lunar south pole.