CBS News
Odysseus moon lander tipped over onto its side during touchdown, company says
Intuitive Machines’ Odysseus moon lander, coming down faster than expected and moving slightly to one side at the moment of touchdown Thursday, apparently caught a footpad on the lunar surface and tipped over onto its side, officials said Friday.
Telemetry indicates the top of the spacecraft may be resting on a rock or the lander could be tipped over on upward-sloping terrain. But Steve Altemus, CEO and co-founder of Intuitive Machines, said Odysseus is still able to draw power from the sun and send engineering and science data back to Earth.
Engineers are in the process of downloading data and hope to downlink stored images as early as this weekend clarifying the orientation of the 14-foot-tall spacecraft.
“We’re downloading and commanding data from the buffers in the spacecraft and trying to get you surface photos because I know that everyone’s hungry for those,” Altemus said.
NASA TV
In the meantime, all the lander’s active instruments, provided by NASA and commercial customers, are facing away from the lunar surface and should be able to return data as planned. But it likely will take longer than expected given some of the tilted spacecraft’s antennas do not face Earth.
And there’s not much time. Regardless of the tip over, the sun will drop below the horizon at the landing site in a little more than one week, ending power generation by the lander’s solar cells. That was always in the cards.
The spacecraft is not designed to withstand the ultra-low temperatures of the lunar night and while flight controllers will attempt to recontact the probe when the sun rises again, they do not expect Odysseus to answer.
“Three major accomplishments”
All that said, Joel Kearns, NASA’s deputy associate administrator for exploration, praised Intuitive Machines for its off-kilter but still-successful landing.
“Let me congratulate Intuitive Machines for three major accomplishments,” he said. “The first is for having the first successful soft landing on the moon by the United States since 1972. The second is for being the first non-government commercial organization to actually touch down safely.
“And the third is for having a touchdown point at 80 degrees south latitude, much closer to the south pole of the moon than any earlier U.S. robotic or human explorers.”
That’s important to NASA, which plans to send Artemis astronauts to the south polar region in the next several years to looks for possible ice deposits while establishing a long-term presence on the moon.
Odysseus was partially funded by NASA’s Commercial Lunar Services Payloads program, designed to encourage private industry to develop transportation capabilities that the agency can then use to transport payloads to the moon.
Intuitive Machines
NASA paid Intuitive Machines $118 million to carry six payloads to the moon aboard Odysseus.
Launched Feb. 15 by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, Odysseus braked into orbit around the moon Wednesday. Flight controllers subsequently raised the orbit slightly to correct a slight targeting error and were gearing up for landing when they ran into problems with a sensor package needed to help fine-tune the trajectory to touchdown.
Luckily for Intuitive Machines, one of the six NASA payloads on board Odysseus was intended to test a different type of navigation sensor, an instrument known as NDL, which stands for Navigation Doppler Lidar.
The NDL system operates like a radar but captures reflected laser light instead of radio waves to precisely measure vehicle velocity, direction and altitude.
Odysseus was commanded to make an additional orbit of the moon while engineers hurriedly wrote and tested software patches to integrate the NASA system into the lander’s navigation algorithms.
“That’s what allowed them to be successful,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson told CBS News Thursday night. “It was a NASA payload that saved the day. (But) don’t take anything away from Odysseus and Intuitive Machines, because this is the first commercial lander to be able to pull off this feat.”
As Odysseus closed in on its landing site, it pitched up from horizontal to a vertical orientation for the final descent to touchdown. The flight plan called for the spacecraft to land with a purely vertical velocity of just 2 mph, roughly a moderate walking pace.
Because of the unexpected lateral velocity, however, engineers believe one of the lander’s six footpads either hit a rock or got caught in a crevice, causing the spacecraft to tip over.
Base on telemetry, “it has to be somewhat elevated off the surface horizontally, so that’s why we think it’s on a rock or the foot is in a crevice or something to hold it in that attitude,” Altemus said.
Intuitive Machines
The revelation that Odysseus had tipped over on touchdown came as a surprise following an overnight update from Intuitive Machines saying telemetry indicated the spacecraft was in an upright orientation. Altemus said Friday that conclusion was based on “stale data.”
A more through analysis of residual propellant and data from inertial measurement units indicating the direction of gravity showed the spacecraft was, in fact, resting on its side.
The landing highlighted the risks faced by any robotic spacecraft attempting to land on unknown terrain and the challenge of autonomously navigating around rocks and other obstacles that cannot be seen from orbit.
A Japanese moon probe tipped over on touchdown last month, limiting its ability to complete the planned science agenda. Altemus and Tim Crain, Intuitive’s chief technology officer, both were optimistic Odysseus can still accomplish most of its objectives.
But at least one hoped-for objective will not be met.
An experimental camera system built by students at Embry Riddle Aeronautical University, designed to be released before touchdown to capture imagery of the lander during its final descent, was not deployed as planned because of software constraints related to the guidance system problem.
The “EagleCam” package will be ejected later, Altemus said, shot out dozens of feet to one side. If all goes well, the cameras will show Odysseus resting on its side, giving engineers – and the public – the best views available of the spacecraft’s orientation.
Kansas’ highest court on Friday struck down state laws regulating abortion providers more strictly than other health care professionals and banning a common second-trimester procedure, reaffirming its stance that the state constitution protects abortion access.
The Kansas Supreme Court’s 5-1 rulings in two separate cases signal that the state’s Republican-controlled Legislature faces stricter limits on regulating abortion than GOP lawmakers thought and suggests other restrictions could fall. Lawsuits in lower state courts already are challenging restrictions on medication abortions, a ban on doctors using teleconferences to meet with patients, rules for what doctors must tell patients before an abortion and a requirement that patients wait 24 hours after receiving information about a procedure to terminate their pregnancies.
“We stand by our conclusion that section 1 of the Kansas Constitution Bill of Rights protects a fundamental right to personal autonomy, which includes a pregnant person’s right to terminate a pregnancy,” Justice Eric Rosen wrote for the majority in overturning the ban on dilation and evacuation, also known as D&E.
The panel found that the state had failed to meet “its evidentiary burden to show the Challenged Laws further its interests in protection of maternal health and regulation of the medical profession as it relates to maternal health,” Justice Melissa Standridge wrote in the majority opinion on the clinic regulations.
Justice K.J. Wall did not participate in either ruling on Friday, while Justice Caleb Stegall was the lone dissenter.
Stegall, who was appointed by conservative Republican Gov. Sam Brownback, is widely regarded as the court’s most conservative member.
Kansas’ top court declared in a 2019 decision that abortion access is a matter of bodily autonomy and a “fundamental” right under the state constitution. Voters in August 2022 also decisively rejected a proposed amendment that would have explicitly declared abortion not a fundamental right and allowed state lawmakers to greatly restrict or ban it.
Lawyers for the state had urged the justices to walk back their 2019 ruling and uphold the two laws, which haven’t been enforced because of the legal battles over them. The state’s solicitor general, appointed by Republican Attorney General Kris Kobach, had argued the 2022 vote didn’t matter in determining whether the laws could stand.
The court disagreed and handed abortion-rights supporters a big legal victory.
Kansas has become an outlier among states with Republican-controlled Legislatures since the U.S. Supreme Court issued its Dobbs decision in June 2022, allowing states to ban abortion completely. That’s led to an influx of patients from states with more restrictive laws, particularly Oklahoma and Texas. The Guttmacher Institute, which supports abortion rights, projected last month that about 20,000 abortions were performed in Kansas in 2023 or 152% more than in 2020.
Kansas doesn’t ban most abortions until the 22nd week of pregnancy, but it requires minors obtain the written consent of their parents or a guardian. Other requirements, including the 24-hour waiting period and what a provider must tell patients, have been put on hold. A lower court is considering a challenge to them by providers.
Abortion opponents argued ahead of the August 2022 vote that failing to change the state constitution would doom long-standing restrictions enacted under past GOP governors. Kansas saw a flurry of new restrictions under former Republican Gov. Sam Brownback from 2011 through 2018.
The health and safety rules aimed specifically at abortion providers were enacted in 2011. Supporters said they would protect women’s health – though there was no evidence provided then documenting that such rules in other states led to better health outcomes. Providers said the real goal was to force them out of business.
The other law was the first of its kind in the nation when enacted in 2015 and deals with a certain type of dilation and evacuation, or D&E, procedure performed during the second trimester.
According to state health department statistics, about 600 D&E procedures were done in Kansas in 2022, accounting for 5% of the state’s total abortions. About 88% of the state’s abortions occurred in the first trimester. The state has yet to release statistics for 2023.
The D&E procedure ban would have forced providers to use alternative methods that the Center for Reproductive Rights, an abortion-rights advocacy group, has said are riskier for the patient and more expensive.
The 2019 ruling came in the early stages of the lawsuit over the 2015 ban. The justices kept the law on hold but sent the case back to the trial court to examine the ban further. A trial judge said the law could not stand.
Three of the court’s seven justices joined the court since the 2019 decision. All three were appointed by Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly, a strong abortion-rights supporter, but one of the three, Justice K.J. Wall, removed himself from the cases.
Frustrated singles are breaking up with dating apps.
Last year Americans downloaded dating apps more than 36 million times, which is down 16% from 2020.
“The way people are using dating apps today and the speed of communication. It’s swipe, swipe, swipe, onto the date. Getting ghosted, getting frustrated, being burned out. Wash, rinse and repeat,” said dating coach Damona Hoffman, who is also the author of “F the Fairytale.”
Hoffman said an increasing number of her clients are feeling what she calls “dating app burnout,” which is stress and fatigue caused by endless swiping.
She said she sees too much “zombie dating.” It’s a term she came up with to describe the behavior she sees on dating apps. She defines it as mindless scrolling, searching for validation and not meaningful connection, and talking to too many people.
“A lot of these DMs and texts, they don’t go anywhere. So that’s really leading to the dating burnout because we get our hopes up. Our adrenaline goes up and then it’s like withdrawal when the person doesn’t materialize into a date.”
Hoffman met her husband online and knows firsthand how frustrating it can be, but said the goal is for connection and users need to apply more empathy.
“We’re feeling this sense of, I call it the communication crisis that we’re in, and you feel it even if you’re not dating. You feel this ‘everybody’s talking but we’re not saying anything.'”
She suggests “dating hygiene,” which is being strategic with your time, eliminating go-nowhere connections and taking stock of your profile on dating apps by tracking reactions and responses.
“Which of the dates and conversations are actually turning into something real, so that you’re not putting all of this energy into connections that don’t make you feel good first of all, or materialize into a relationship.”
Hoffman, who also hosts a podcast called “Dates and Mates,” advises speaking to the individual on the app for just one week before meeting in person.
“The whole goal of dating apps is to meet in person so what happens when you stay in the texting trap and you stay on the app too long, you develop a false sense of intimacy.”
Hoffman said she wants to help people feel more in control of their dating destiny and as a professional who has helped people find love for almost 20 years both online and offline, she disagrees with the saying “you will find love when you least expect it.”
“When people approach dating mindfully, strategically, they get results,” she said. “They get to the relationship.”
If you’re sick of swiping, she suggests attending events, try speed dating, hire a matchmaker or engage in your community to make connections.
The CEO of Match Group, the company that owns Tinder, OkCupid, Hinge and Match.com, said late last year that they are “optimistic about the future” and that he expects to see the decline in paid users “moderating.”
Getty Images
Recent data shows that credit card balances (and delinquencies) have been rising steadily for the last three years. And, the reasons are simple: With high inflation and soaring rates on loans and mortgages, many consumers are turning to credit cards in a financial pinch. They’re easy to qualify for and incredibly convenient to use.
Unfortunately, they can also hurt your credit — especially if you skip payments or wrack up too-high balances.
Find out what your top debt relief options are online now.
3 ways to settle your debt without hurting your credit score
Are you dealing with high credit card debt? Here’s how to tackle it without hurting your credit further.
Choose a debt payoff method and stick to it
To start, make sure you’re making payments that are larger than the minimum payments required by your card issuer. This reduces your principal balance and, in turn, your interest costs.
Create a household budget and see where you can cut corners. Then, put any extra cash you’ve found through those cutbacks to reduce your debts. Generally, financial professionals recommend putting at least 20% of your disposable income toward debts and savings each month.
If you have several credit cards with balances, “use either the debt snowball method — paying off the smallest debt first, or the debt avalanche method — paying off the highest-interest debt first, to systematically reduce your debt,” says Kristy Kim, founder and CEO of TomoCredit.
The quicker you can get your balances to 30% or less of your total credit line, the better. According to credit bureau Experian, that’s when your balances start to have a “pronounced negative effect” on your credit score.
Explore how the right debt relief company can help you tackle your high-rate debt now.
Consolidate your debt
Another option is to consolidate your debts — using another credit card or loan to pay them all off at once. This rolls them all into one loan and, as long as the new credit card or loan has a lower interest rate, can save you on long-term interest, too.
Opening the new card or loan will result in an initial hit to your credit score, but Howard Dvorkin, a certified public accountant and chairman of Debt.com, calls it “a classic case of taking a half-step backward to take two steps forward.”
“Yes, in the very short term your credit score may drop, but if you make payments on time and in full, your score will soon rise,” Dvorkin says.
The key is to make sure you’re paying the credit cards off with a lower-rate product. This might mean a personal loan or home equity loan (both tend to have lower rates than credit cards these days), or it could mean using a balance transfer card. In the case of the latter, these often come with promotional 0% interest rates for a period of time. You’ll just need to make sure you pay off the balance or transfer it to a new card before that promo rate expires.
Additionally: Make sure you keep your old credit cards open once you pay them off — just don’t use them.
“The average age of your open accounts is a factor in determining your score, so while closing a card may be tempting after consolidating your debt, it might be better to keep it open, especially if there is no annual fee,” says Gabe Kahn, director of credit at Arro Finance. “If you’re concerned that you’ll use the newly available credit to continue spending, though, closing the card and taking a minor hit to your credit might be a good idea instead of ending up in debt again.”
Get on a debt management plan
A debt management plan is also an option. These are available through credit counseling agencies and debt relief companies, and often result in reduced interest rates and waived late fees.
You’ll pay your credit counseling company monthly, and they’ll work with your creditors to pay off your balances by a certain deadline (often within three to five years).
Dvorkin says these plans are similar to consolidation when it comes to your credit score.
“Your score might dip momentarily, but it comes back stronger than ever,” Dvorkin says. “In both these cases, you’re making on-time payments that lower your debt burden.”
The bottom line
Whatever you do, stay on top of your payments. And if you think you may have trouble making them, call your credit card issuer for options.
“The worst debt strategy for your credit score is to consistently make late payments or miss payments entirely,” Kim says. “Payment history is the most significant factor in determining your credit score.”
