With the arrival of the Blue Ghost lander on the moon this weekend, get ready for an influx of stunning new images from our planet’s natural satellite. The mission, from Firefly Aerospace, touched down in the moon’s Mare Crisium region yesterday, Sunday March 2, and the company has already shared the first images captured by the lander from its new home.
As well as a striking image showing the shadow of the lander on the moon’s surface, seen above, another image shows the lander on the moon with the Earth visible in the night sky:
This also shows two of the lander’s instruments, the X-band antenna for sending data back to Earth and the Lunar Environment Heliospheric X-ray Imager or LEXI telescope. This instrument will use X-rays to study how solar winds interact with the Earth’s magnetic field, and is one of several NASA instruments on board the lander.
Regarding the landing, NASA acting Administrator Janet Petro said in a statement: “This incredible achievement demonstrates how NASA and American companies are leading the way in space exploration for the benefit of all. We have already learned many lessons – and the technological and science demonstrations onboard Firefly’s Blue Ghost Mission 1 will improve our ability to not only discover more science, but to ensure the safety of our spacecraft instruments for future human exploration – both in the short term and long term.”
A further image was also released, showing a top-down view of the surface with the lander’s thrusters visible as well:
Deployment of the lander’s instrument has already begun, and today Firefly announced that the X-band antenna has been fully deployed. Compared to the lander’s S-band antennae, which are used to send lower quality images, the X-band antenna will allow higher quality images, science data, and even video to be sent back from the surface.
“The science and technology we send to the Moon now helps prepare the way for future NASA exploration and long-term human presence to inspire the world for generations to come,” said Nicky Fox, NASA’s associate administrator for science. “We’re sending these payloads by working with American companies – which supports a growing lunar economy.”
