Odysseus survived the landing on Friday in one piece, but ended up in a hole. This caused the lunar lander to fall on its side. According to the company, the car likely flipped during the final stage of the descent, after which it came to rest sideways on a rock.
Despite its position on the side, the lunar lander is still operational and can therefore transmit images and signals. The images are taken from the southernmost point on the Moon that a spacecraft has ever reached.
The lunar lander sent back two images: one of the hexagonal spacecraft landing and another 35 seconds after it landed. This revealed the ground filled with the impact crater called Malapert A.
The Odysseus landing is the first successful American landing on the moon since 1972. The lunar lander will conduct about a week of research on the effect of charged particles from the sun on the moon’s surface. This information will be used to find out if people can go to the moon again in the coming years.
