The Odysseus spacecraft was damaged on the surface of the Moon

After six days of hard work and a number of unexpected incidents, engineers have finally captured the moments of the Odysseus spacecraft landing on the lunar surface. A press conference held on Wednesday revealed some details and prospects for the upcoming mission.

Here's What We Know

Steve Altemus, CEO of Intuitive Machines, explained that there were unforeseen difficulties during the landing. The Odysseus navigation system lost contact with the rangefinders and did not receive real-time data from the altimeters. This led to the lander descending to the Moon without the necessary measurements.

When the spacecraft touched the lunar surface, it hit harder than expected and sustained damage. However, despite this, the ship's engine continued to work and helped maintain stability. Later, when the engine went out, Odysseus gently tipped over.

However, thanks to the perseverance of the Intuitive Machines team and the support of NASA, valuable data was retrieved from the spacecraft. Now Odysseus is in a shutdown state, waiting for sunlight to return to activate again.

The mission is ongoing and the team is focused on getting the spacecraft back up and running and fulfilling the scientific goals they have set for themselves. The engineers are confident in its capabilities and are ready to overcome all difficulties on the way to re-establishing communication with Odysseus.

Source: Ars Technica