CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A significant achievement in space exploration was marked by a private lunar lander that delivered the first-ever high-definition sunset photographs from the moon.
Firefly Aerospace, in collaboration with NASA, unveiled these captivating images on Tuesday after the Blue Ghost lander ceased functioning over the weekend. Among the stunning photographs, one captured the distant planet Venus.
The Blue Ghost, developed by Firefly, successfully landed on the moon on March 2, marking the first instance of a private spacecraft achieving an upright landing and completing its mission objectives. The lander continued to capture images and collect scientific information for five hours into the lunar night until its systems went offline due to insufficient solar energy.
According to NASA’s Joel Kearns, the high-resolution sunset photographs from Blue Ghost represent a pioneering effort. Analysts need to examine these images thoroughly to understand a potential horizon glow visible in one of the photos and whether such a phenomenon results from levitating lunar dust. This hypothesis was initially proposed over 50 years ago by Apollo 17 astronaut Gene Cernan, the last human to walk on the moon.
“What we’ve obtained is a truly stunning, artistic image that reveals some unexpected features,” Kearns explained during a news conference.
The Blue Ghost mission included 10 NASA experiments conducted under its commercial lunar delivery initiative. While the mission’s primary goals were achieved, it was noted that the onboard drill managed to penetrate only 3 feet (1 meter) into the lunar surface, as opposed to the intended 10 feet (3 meters).
Firefly has announced plans to attempt reactivating the lunar lander in early April, following the two-week-long, frigid lunar night, although engineers remain skeptical about its successful revival.
