spacetoday.net: Malfunctioning sensors and lighting conditions blamed for IM-2 lunar landing tip-over

Posted: Sun, May 18, 2025, 9:15 AM ET (1315 GMT)
Faulty altimeters and lighting conditions caused Intuitive Machines' second lunar lander to fall on its side in March. In an earnings call Tuesday, company executives said that their review of the IM-2 mission found that laser altimeters on the lander suffered "signal noise and distortion" that kept them from providing accurate altitude readings during the final phases of the lander's descent. Lighting conditions at the landing site in the south polar region of the moon, with long shadows, also affected the lander, as did differences in the appearance in craters at lower altitudes compared to reference images used by the lander's optical navigation system. The company said changes to the company's next lander to fix those problems, like the use of dissimilar and redundant altimeters, won't delay the mission, set to launch next year, and will only slightly increase its cost.