With the arrival of the Blue Ghost lander on the Moon this weekend, astronomers around the world are eagerly awaiting a series of stunning new images that will provide a truly immersive, and even unprecedented, look at our planet's natural satellite.
The Firefly Aerospace mission successfully landed in the Mare Crisium region of the Moon on Sunday, March 2, and the company has immediately shared the first images taken by the Blue Ghost lander.
Along with the impressive image showing the lander's shadow on the lunar surface (as shown above), another image depicts Earth clearly visible in the beautiful night sky:
This image also shows two of the lander's instruments: the X-band antenna to send data back to Earth and the Lunar Environment Heliospheric X-ray Imager (LEXI), which will use X-rays to study how solar winds interact with Earth's magnetic field and is one of several NASA instruments on the lander.
Speaking about the lander's complex landing technique, NASA Administrator Janet Petro said:
This incredible achievement demonstrates how NASA and American companies are leading the way in space exploration for the benefit of all. We learned many lessons – and the technology and science demonstrations on Firefly’s Blue Ghost Mission 1 will improve our ability not only to explore the Moon further, but also to ensure the safety of our spacecraft for future manned missions – both short-term and long-term.
Another newly released image shows a top-down view of the lunar surface with the lander's thrusters clearly visible:
Deployment of the lander's instruments has begun, and today Firefly announced that the X-band antenna is fully deployed. Compared to the lander's S-band antennas, which are used to send back low-quality images, the X-band antenna will allow for higher-quality images, scientific data, and even video to be sent back to Earth.
NASA Associate Administrator for Science Nicky Fox said:
The science and technology we send to the Moon today prepares for future NASA exploration missions and a long-term human presence that will inspire the world for generations to come.
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