Blue Ghost module concludes the first successful commercial mission on the moon

THE FIREFLY AERASPACE Company based in Texas who made a Impeccable lunar landing with its Blue Ghost spacecraft earlier this month declared the end of the historical mission after reaching “100%” of its goals. The feat First “fully successful” commercial operation on the moon said the company on Monday (17).

Blue Ghost, a four -legged robotic module the size of a small car, spent two weeks operating on the visible side of the moon. The landing site was close to an old volcanic formation called Mons Latreille, located north of the lunar equator.

The spacecraft remained in the sunlight for most of the mission, until lunar dusk brought darkness to the landing site on Sunday (16). However, the vehicle was able to fulfill one of the mission’s main goals, continuing to operate for about five hours after sunset, thanks to the energy provided by their batteries.

During the operations, the module transmitted a total of approximately 120 gigabytes of data – the equivalent of over 24,000 songs – back to Earth.

Among his activities were the farther GPS signal capture ever received, the use of a vacuum device to collect and separate lunar dust and the implantation of a drill to measure ground temperatures.

Firefly’s mission control received the final sign of Blue Ghost around 8:15 pm (Brasília time) this Sunday, according to the company.


This image was captured by Firefly's Blue Ghost Module during the Lunar Sun, with the Earth visible as a growing horizon

“This achievement marks the longest business operations on the moon so far,” Firefly said in a statement.

The Blue Ghost landing module also sent a farewell message before entering the “monument mode”, reference to the fact that it will remain inactive on the lunar surface indefinitely.

“Detection of change in mission mode, now in monument mode; Good night, friends, ”said the spacecraft message, according to a Firefly publication on Old Twitter platform.

“I will keep vigil at this point on Mare Crisium to observe the continuous journey of humanity towards the stars. Here, I will last longer than your most powerful rivers, your highest mountains and perhaps even your kind we know it, ”the message continued. “But it is remarkable that a species can be overcome by its own ingenuity. Here lies Blue Ghost, a testimony of the team that, with the loving support of their families and friends, built and operated this machine and their useful loads. ”

Blue Ghost’s historical mission on the moon

Operating at the lunar night is a big challenge, as surface temperatures can vary dramatically from 121 degrees Celsius during the day to up to -173 degrees Celsius at night.

With the arrival of lunar night, Blue Ghost should capture 4K video of the brightness of the lunar horizon. During this phenomenon, which has already been observed by Apollo astronauts, lunar dust particles seem to levitate around the sunset.

NASA and Firefly plan to share these observations at a press conference scheduled for Tuesday (18) at 15h.

In addition, Blue Ghost witnessed an eclipse from the lunar surface last week. The event projected the shadow of the earth over the moon, briefly plunging the module into the darkness. However, the robotic explorer was able to record the impressive “diamond ring effect” when the sun reappeared behind our planet.

From the earth, this eclipse could be seen as a “blood moon”, leaving our nearest celestial neighbor with a reddish-orange hue.


Blue Ghost captured this image of the "diamond ring effect" that occurs during eclipses when sunlight illuminates only the external ring of a planetary body; Such phenomenon is seen during total solar eclipses on Earth, but here it is captured when the earth eclipses the view of the sun from the moon surface

Failures of other private lunar modules

Firefly called its mission “the first fully successful commercial landing on the moon” of the story. The title refers to the company Intuitive Machines, also from Texas, whose Odysseus module became, last year, the first commercial spacecraft to land softly on the moon. However, the ship landed aside, which generated significant communication challenges and led to a premature conclusion of the mission.

The second module of Intuitive Machines, Athena, landed on the moon just a few days after Blue Ghost, but had a similar destination, being listed near the South Lunar pole. Both the company’s landing sites were in the challenging southern region of the moon, full of impact craters and other obstacles.

Several commercial companies – including the United States Astrobotic Technology, Ispace, Japan, and Israel’s Spaceil – tried and failed earlier when trying to gently land vehicles on the moon.

For decades, this type of mission has been considered technologically demanding and expensive for the private sector.

Both Intuitive Machines and Firefly have sent its Lunar modules under NASA’s Lunar Payload Services (ClPs) program, which seeks to encourage the business sector to invest in lunar exploration.

Firefly received a fixed price contract of $ 101.5 million (about $ 579 million) for this mission.

Through the Commercial Lunar Payload Services program, NASA expects to establish a fleet of spacecraft developed by the private sector that can robotically exploit the lunar surface relatively quickly and economically, before the return of astronauts to the moon later this decade.

“Our team may seem younger and less experienced than many nations and companies that have tried lunar landings before us, but the mutual support we have is what drives hard work and the dedication to finding each solution that has made this mission a success,” said Blue Ghost engineer Will Coogan in a press release.

Learn more: Private company module successfully lands on the moon

When was the last trip to the moon and why does the lunar program end?

This content was originally published in Blue Ghost module concludes the first successful commercial mission on the moon on the CNN Brazil website.

Source: CNN Brasil

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