NASA’s private partner Intuitive Machines planned for its craft to land on a lunar plateau near the south pole.
Intuitive Machines’ NOVA-C lander, Athena, touched down on the moon on March 6, but no cheers rang out from the NOVA Control flight control room in Houston, Texas.
After completing its 600-second descent burn from orbit to what would be the southern-most lunar landing ever attempted, a lunar plateau near the south pole called Mons Mouton, tensions remained high as only a partial radio signal remained, leaving flight controllers to put pieces of data together.
Verbal confirmation of touchdown went out from mission control by around 12:35 p.m. NASA would confirm on social media platform X hours after the fact that the craft touched down on the moon at 12:30 p.m. ET.
Pictures, which were not supposed to be gathered for several hours, were prioritized to achieve a better understanding of the vehicle’s orientation—in other words, ensure it is positioned properly upright on the surface so it can perform its multi-faceted 10-day mission.
Solar charging was confirmed, and mission control was able to communicate back and forth with the lander, which obeyed commands to shut down unnecessary systems in order to conserve energy.
Intuitive Machines’ troublesome landing comes after its first lander, Odysseus, broke one of its legs upon descent last year, causing it to fall on its side. It was still able to communicate with mission control, relay data, and perform some of its mission functions in that state.
NASA ended its live coverage of the Athena landing approximately 21 minutes after the spacecraft’s optimal landing time, promising updates if any come in between then and a post-landing press conference scheduled for 4 p.m.
“All right, team, keep working the problem,” Tim Crain, flight director and Intuitive Machine’s Chief Technology Officer and co-founder, told the flight directors roughly 10 minutes after the confirmed touchdown. ”We’re shedding power as fast as we can to keep the vehicle in good health. We are generating power. We are communicating through our telemetry radio, and we are working to evaluate exactly what our orientation is on the surface.”
By T.J. Muscaro
