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Tipped-over Odysseus moon lander, spotted by lunar orbiter, sends back pictures
NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has spotted the tipped-over Odysseus lander on the surface of the moon, officials said Monday, confirming it touched down less than a mile from its planned landing site near the moon’s south pole.
Odysseus builder Intuitive Machines of Houston posted a picture captured by the lander during its final descent, along with a blurry shot apparently taken after touchdown, showing the rock-strewn surface immediately around the landing site.
“Odysseus continues to communicate with flight controllers in Nova Control from the lunar surface,” Intuitive Machines said on its website.
“After understanding the end-to-end communication requirements, Odysseus sent images from the lunar surface of its vertical descent to its Malapert A landing site, representing the furthest south any vehicle has been able to land on the moon and establish communication with ground controllers.”
Images from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera confirmed Odysseus touched down at 80.13 degrees south latitude and 1.44 east longitude at an elevation of 1.6 miles, putting it within 5,000 feet of the landing site near a crater known as Malapert A.
NASA/Intuitive Machines
“After traveling more than 600,000 miles, Odysseus landed within (nine tenths of a mile) of its intended Malapert A landing site,” the company posted.
A second photograph showed the lunar terrain below Odysseus as the spacecraft descended straight down toward the moon, its fixed landing legs poised for touchdown.
Odysseus was launched from the Kennedy Space Center on Feb. 15 and landed at 6:24 p.m. EST last Thursday, becoming the first privately build spacecraft to successfully touch down on the moon and the first U.S. spacecraft of any kind to accomplish that feat in more than 50 years.
Intuitive Machines via AP
But the spacecraft was moving to one side slightly at the moment of touchdown. One of its six landing legs apparently dug in, or got caught on a rock or stuck in a crevice, causing the 14-foot-tall Odysseus to topple over on its side.
While the lander survived touchdown, antennas were not properly aimed at Earth and data transmission has been slower than expected. In any case, the spacecraft will only survive a few more days before the sun sets at the landing site, ending its ability to generate solar power.
Japan’s moon lander survives lunar night
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, meanwhile, reported Monday that flight controllers had managed to reestablish contact with their SLIM lunar lander, which touched down on the moon Jan. 19 and promptly tipped over on its nose. One of the probe’s two engines malfunctioned shortly before touchdown, producing an unbalanced thrust that caused it to hit the surface while still moving forward.
Engineers did not expect the solar-powered spacecraft to survive the lunar night, but flight controllers reported they were able to re-contact the lander over the weekend.
“SLIM successfully survived the night on the lunar surface while maintaining communication capabilities!” the space agency reported. “Last night, as it was still midday and the temperature of the communication equipment was extremely high, communication was terminated after only a short period of time.
“From now on, preparations will be made so that observations can be resumed once the temperature has cooled sufficiently.”
A photo from one of SLIM’s navigation cameras was posted on X showing the surrounding landscape.
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters says workers at seven Amazon facilities will begin a strike Thursday morning in an effort by the union to pressure the e-commerce giant for a labor agreement during a key shopping period.
The Teamsters say the workers, who authorized walkouts in the past few days, are joining the picket line after Amazon ignored a Dec. 15 deadline the union set for contract negotiations. Amazon says it doesn’t expect any impact on its operations during what the union calls the largest strike against the company in U.S. history.
The Teamsters say they represent nearly 10,000 workers at 10 Amazon facilities, a small portion of the 1.5 million people Amazon employs in its warehouses and corporate offices.
Amazon is ranked No. 2 on the Fortune 500 list of the nation’s largest companies.
At a warehouse in the New York City borough of Staten Island, thousands of workers who voted for the Amazon Labor Union in 2022 and have since affiliated with the Teamsters. At the other facilities, employees – including many delivery drivers – have unionized with them by demonstrating majority support but without holding government-administered elections.
The strikes happening Thursday are taking place at an Amazon warehouse in San Francisco and six delivery stations in southern California, New York City, Atlanta and the Chicago suburb of Skokie, Illinois, according to the union’s announcement. Amazon workers at the other facilities are “prepared to join” them, the union said.
“Amazon is pushing its workers closer to the picket line by failing to show them the respect they have earned,” Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien said in a statement.
“If your package is delayed during the holidays, you can blame Amazon’s insatiable greed. We gave Amazon a clear deadline to come to the table and do right by our members. They ignored it,” he said.
The Seattle-based online retailer has been seeking to re-do the election that led to the union victory at the warehouse on Staten Island, which the Teamsters now represent. In the process, the company has filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the National Labor Relations Board.
Meanwhile, Amazon says the delivery drivers, which the Teamsters have organized for more than a year, aren’t its employees. Under its business model, the drivers work for third-party businesses, called Delivery Service Partners, who drop off millions of packages to customers everyday.
“For more than a year now, the Teamsters have continued to intentionally mislead the public – claiming that they represent ‘thousands of Amazon employees and drivers’. They don’t, and this is another attempt to push a false narrative,” Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel said in a statement. “The truth is that the Teamsters have actively threatened, intimidated, and attempted to coerce Amazon employees and third-party drivers to join them, which is illegal and is the subject of multiple pending unfair labor practice charges against the union.“
The Teamsters have argued Amazon essentially controls everything the drivers do and should be classified as an employer.
Some U.S. labor regulators have sided with the union in filings made before the NLRB. In September, Amazon boosted pay for the drivers amid the growing pressure.
NEW YORK — The Teamsters union is launching a strike against Amazon at numerous locations across the country, including in Maspeth, Queens.
The Teamsters are calling it the largest strike against Amazon in United States history, and it’s set to begin at 6 a.m. Thursday. In addition to New York City, workers will be joining picket lines in Atlanta, Southern California, San Francisco and Illinois.
In a video announcement released Wednesday night, workers voiced their frustrations.
“Us being strike ready means we’re fed up, and Amazon is clearly ignoring us and we want to be heard,” one worker says in the video.
“It’s really exciting. We’re taking steps for ourselves to win better conditions, better benefits, better wages,” another worker in the video says.
The union says it represents about 10,000 Amazon employees and that Amazon ignored a deadline to come to the table and negotiate. The $2 trillion company doesn’t pay employees enough to make ends meet, the union asserts.
At the height of the holiday season, many are wondering what this means for packages currently in transit.
Teamsters President Sean O’Brien said, “If your package is delayed during the holidays, you can blame Amazon’s insatiable greed.”
Amazon says Teamsters are misleading the public
An Amazon spokesperson says the Teamsters are misleading the public and do not represent any Amazon employees, despite any claims.
“The truth is that the Teamsters have actively threatened, intimidated, and attempted to coerce Amazon employees and third-party drivers to join them, which is illegal and is the subject of multiple pending unfair labor practice charges against the union,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
An Amazon representative says the company doesn’t expect operations to be impacted.
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