A privately built spacecraft sent to the moon does not appear to be upright on the surface, says the US company that operates it.
The Intuitive Machines lander, called Athena, seems to have survived the perilous descent in a game-changing mission to find water.
It slowed from more than 4,000mph to touch down on the Mons Mouton, a ridge just 100 miles from the lunar south pole.
But Intuitive Machines chief executive Steve Altemus said at a news conference: “We don’t believe we’re in the correct attitude on the surface of the moon, yet again.”
Last year, an Intuitive Machines spacecraft toppled over on landing after tripping over on a rock.
Although it responded to commands sent by mission control, it failed to send back images immediately after landing, as expected.
Shares in the company tumbled while engineers tried to establish full communication.
The south pole region is the destination for NASA astronauts due to land on the surface in just two years’ time.
But Athena’s descent on to a rugged terrain, sometimes out of communication with listening stations on Earth, underlines the risks they will face.
If Athena is able to power up its systems and operate normally, it should release the first privately built robotic rover on to the lunar surface.
As it trundles across the terrain, it will build a 3D map and test the first high-speed mobile communications network on the moon.
The search for water
But the mission’s main purpose is to find water.
Athena has a drill to take samples a metre below the surface.
And it will release a small ‘hopper’ that will bounce into a deep crater that is permanently in shadow, where there could be ice.
Professor Katherine Joy, a planetary geologist at the University of Manchester who is advising the NASA Artemis mission, said orbiting spacecraft have spotted signs of water in the craters.
But that needs to be confirmed on the ground.
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She told Sky News: “These craters are incredibly cold, down to about -230C (-382F). Ice could be maintained there for thousands, millions and maybe even billions of years.
“So there may be quite a lot of ice present.
“It would mean that we could mine these deposits to convert into water to drink, to make oxygen to breathe, and even create rocket fuel.”
This story originally appeared on Skynews
