First image from Odysseus on the lunar surface
Click for original image.
Engineers have managed to finally download several images from Intuitive Machines’ Odysseus lunar lander, lying on its side on the Moon several hundred miles from the south pole. Five pictures were taken as the lander approached the ground. A sixth, to the right and cropped and reduced to post here, was taken after landing using a fish-eye lens. You can see two of the lander’s legs, and I think the bright spot on the horizon is the Sun.
Odysseus captured this image approximately 35 seconds after pitching over during its approach to the landing site. The camera is on the starboard aft-side of the lander in this phase.
Unfortunately, the lander’s fallen position appears to be limiting the amount of sunlight its solar panels are receiving, and thus engineers expect to shut the spacecraft down sometime today in anticipation of the lunar night. It is very doubtful Odysseus will survive that night and resume operations during the next lunar day.
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In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
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Click for original image.
Engineers have managed to finally download several images from Intuitive Machines’ Odysseus lunar lander, lying on its side on the Moon several hundred miles from the south pole. Five pictures were taken as the lander approached the ground. A sixth, to the right and cropped and reduced to post here, was taken after landing using a fish-eye lens. You can see two of the lander’s legs, and I think the bright spot on the horizon is the Sun.
Odysseus captured this image approximately 35 seconds after pitching over during its approach to the landing site. The camera is on the starboard aft-side of the lander in this phase.
Unfortunately, the lander’s fallen position appears to be limiting the amount of sunlight its solar panels are receiving, and thus engineers expect to shut the spacecraft down sometime today in anticipation of the lunar night. It is very doubtful Odysseus will survive that night and resume operations during the next lunar day.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
This image is not from the lunar surface. As Intuitive Machines mangers said,
“Odysseus captured this image approximately 35 seconds after pitching over during its approach to the landing site.”
This means 35 sec. after it transitioned from moving mostly horizontally to mostly vertically–pitching over–like all lunar landers have done on each mission. This was NOT taken 35 sec. after it tipped over at landing.