Firefly’s Blue Ghost lander is making waves with its incredible work on the moon.
On March 2, Blue Ghost successfully landed near Mons Latreille, a notable peak in the Mare Crisium, or “Sea of Crises.” Once on the lunar surface, it quickly began its scientific tasks, including snapping a breathtaking picture during the lunar sunrise.
Recent updates show Blue Ghost’s experiments in motion. One of the key projects is the LISTER (Lunar Instrumentation for Subsurface Thermal Exploration with Rapidity). This innovative drill has been boring into the moon’s surface, providing fascinating insights.
(Image credit: Firefly Aerospace)
The drill, powered by gas and designed by Texas Tech University and Honeybee Robotics, creates small eruptions of dust and sparks as it penetrates the surface. LISTER aims to reach a depth of 6-9 feet (2-3 meters) while measuring temperatures to understand heat flow within the moon.
Blue Ghost is also equipped with NASA’s Lunar Magnetotelluric Sounder (LMS), which has deployed electrodes to study the moon’s mantle. Another exciting payload, the Lunar PlanetVac, has been busy collecting and sorting lunar soil using pressurized nitrogen gas. Check out this video for a closer look at how it works.
In total, Blue Ghost is carrying ten NASA payloads as part of the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative. As of March 6, eight of these payloads had already met their goals. One notable project, SCALPSS, studied how the lander’s engine affected lunar soil during its landing.
Despite the mission’s successes, Blue Ghost is approaching its conclusion. The lander will lose power when the lunar sun sets on March 16. Before that happens, it plans to capture images of the sunset, which will provide valuable data on how lunar dust behaves during these moments.
Check out this related article: New Discoveries Reveal the Colossal Size of the Largest Shark in History, Say Scientists
Source link