Photo credit: phys.org
Over the course of five decades since the last Apollo mission, the United States has made a historic return to the lunar surface with the first private lunar lander successfully landing in February. This significant achievement is just the beginning, as two additional missions are scheduled to take place within a single week, highlighting a renewed commitment from NASA and its commercial partners to establish regular moon landings as a fixture in space exploration.
Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost Mission 1, affectionately dubbed ‘Ghost Riders in the Sky,’ landed successfully at 3:34 a.m. ET (0834 GMT) near Mons Latreille, a volcanic region on the northeastern section of the moon. This remarkable feat followed a 45-day journey and included the lander capturing breathtaking footage of the lunar surface during its approach, coming within 60 miles (100 kilometers) before touchdown.
The lander, which is roughly the size of a hippopotamus and clad in a golden exterior, carries ten scientific instruments. These include tools for analyzing lunar soil, testing radiation-resistant computing systems, and a GPS navigation package. Now operational on the moon, Blue Ghost is expected to function for an entire lunar day, spanning 14 Earth days, and is anticipated to generate high-definition images of a total solar eclipse occurring on March 14, during which Earth will obscure the sun from the lunar perspective. Additionally, on March 16, it will document a lunar sunset, providing crucial data on how dust interacts with solar radiation, a phenomenon first noted by Apollo astronaut Eugene Cernan.
Upcoming Missions
Not long after Blue Ghost’s arrival, Intuitive Machines will launch its IM-2 mission on March 6, featuring a new lander named Athena. Intuitive Machines previously became the first private entity to achieve a soft lunar landing, albeit with a setback when the lander tipped over due to a sudden descent speed. This time, enhancements have been made to Athena, which boasts a taller, more slender profile compared to Blue Ghost, roughly equivalent in height to an adult giraffe.
Athena was launched on a SpaceX rocket, taking a more direct trajectory to its intended landing site at Mons Mouton, which is noted for being the southernmost point ever targeted for a lunar mission. The payload for this ambitious mission includes a specialized hopping drone created to navigate subsurface channels formed by ancient lava flows, as well as a drill that can excavate down to three feet to search for potential water ice. The mission also includes three rovers, with the largest — approximately the size of a beagle — utilizing a Nokia cellular network for communication with the lander and the hopping drone, marking a significant milestone in lunar exploration.
However, it is the hopping drone, informally named “Grace” after computer pioneer Grace Hopper, that is expected to garner significant attention if it proves capable of traversing the rugged lunar landscape in ways that traditional rovers cannot.
Navigating Lunar Challenges
The process of landing on the moon is fraught with challenges, primarily due to the lack of atmosphere that renders parachutes ineffective. Instead, spacecraft must depend on meticulously controlled thruster burns to safely slow their descent while navigating uneven terrain. Prior to the success of Intuitive Machines, only five national space agencies had accomplished a soft lunar landing: the Soviet Union, the United States, China, India, and Japan, in that order.
In a transformative effort, the United States is aiming to normalize private lunar missions through NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program, which is backed by a budget of $2.6 billion. This initiative looks to reduce the costs of lunar missions by partnering with private firms for hardware delivery to the lunar surface.
As these exciting developments unfold, they come at a crucial juncture for NASA, given ongoing discussions around potentially scaling back or even canceling its Artemis lunar program to focus more on aspirations for Mars exploration, a priority emphasized by both former President Donald Trump and SpaceX founder Elon Musk.
Source
phys.org