2024-02-27 05:05:47
This content was published on February 27, 2024 – 07:06
(Keystone-ATS) The Odysseus probe from the American company Intuitive Machines has sent its first images of the southernmost place on the Moon where no spacecraft has ever landed. The private company shared two photos on the social network X on Monday.
The craft, which measures more than four meters high, landed on the Moon at 12:23 a.m. Swiss time on Friday, a first for the United States in more than 50 years. This is also a first for a private company.
But twists and turns, notably a failure of its navigation system, complicated the final descent and the probe found itself lying on one side instead of landing vertically.
“Odysseus continues to communicate with Nova Control flight controllers from the lunar surface,” Intuitive Machines said Monday, posting two photos on X, one of the spacecraft’s descent and another taken 35 seconds following it fell, revealing the regolith of Malapert crater.
The device notably transports scientific instruments from NASA, which wishes to explore the south pole of the Moon before sending its astronauts there, as part of its Artemis missions. The American space agency has decided to order this service from private companies.
More often and cheaper
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, capable of supporting a lasting human presence on the Moon, one of the goals of the Artemis program.
The Japanese SLIM probe, placed on the Moon since the end of January, has been activated once more, Jaxa, the country’s space agency, announced on Monday. It was also placed at an angle and its photovoltaic cells facing west did not receive sunlight.
For Jonathan McDowell, these two falls might indicate that the upper parts of current probes are too heavy and therefore that current generation machines are more likely to overturn in low gravity.
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