Los Angeles, Feb. 23 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. private enterprise "Intuition Machine" said on the 23rd that the lunar lander "Odysseus" developed by it turned on its side during the lunar landing on the 22nd, but it is currently operating normally.
Odysseus landed on the moon at 18:23 EST on the 22nd (7:23 Beijing time on the 23rd). This is the first time that a U.S. spacecraft has landed on the moon in more than 50 years, and it is also the first time that a private company has completed this mission.
The "Intuitive Machine" company said on social **x on the 23rd that "Odysseus" is currently "surviving well". The flight control team is communicating with Odysseus, giving it commands for scientific data and is in the process of obtaining the first batch of data it has sent back from the landing site. The lander's telemetry and solar charging panels are functioning normally.
The company's chief executive, Steve Artemus, said on the same day that it was not entirely clear what happened to Odysseus when it landed, but the data showed that one of its six landing legs got stuck during the landing, causing it to roll over when it landed. It is hoped that the ** transmitted back by "Odysseus" will be successfully obtained in order to make a real assessment of its structure and the scientific instruments it carries. At present, most of the scientific instruments carried by it can receive signals normally, but two of the antennas of the lander are facing downward, which may have a slight impact on the communication effect.
According to a communiqué issued by NASA on the same day, a few hours before the landing of "Odysseus", the navigation system of the "Intuition Machine" company suffered a sensor failure, and later assisted the landing of "Odysseus" with the help of NASA's navigation system. Odysseus is currently operating normally, is solar-charging, and is transmitting data back to Mission Control in Houston.
On the 15th of this month, "Odysseus" was launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida aboard the "Falcon 9" rocket of the US SpaceX Corporation. The "Odysseus" lander is a hexagonal cylinder with a height of 4 meters and a width of 157 meters with 6 landing legs. According to NASA, the mission objectives include studying the interaction between the lander's engine plume and the lunar surface, radio astronomy, the interaction of space weather with the lunar surface, the lander's precision landing technology, and communication and navigation capabilities. (ENDS).