(The Daily Star): More than 50 years after the last Apollo mission, the United States returned to the Moon in February with the launch of the first-ever private lander. NASA is working to make Moon landings a common feature of space travel, with two upcoming missions slated to land within a week of each other.
The first mission is Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost Mission 1, or "Ghost Riders in the Sky." It has been on a 45-day journey since its January launch and is expected to settle close to Mons Latreille, a volcanic structure in the Mare Crisium region on the northeastern side of the Moon. 3:34 AM US Eastern Time (0834 GMT) is the anticipated landing time. The spacecraft has captured breathtaking pictures of the Moon while traveling as near as 60 miles (100 kilometers) above its surface.
Ten research instruments are carried on the lander, which is about the size of a hippopotamus. These include a GPS-based navigation system to aid in its operations, a device to test radiation-tolerant computing, and one to study lunar dirt. The mission's goal is to collect important information about the Moon's ecology and surface.
Blue Ghost is designed to run for 14 Earth days, or one full lunar day. By employing scientific research and HD imaging during this time, the lander will improve insight into the Moon's surface.
One of the enticing aspects of this mission is that Blue Ghost is going to record a total lunar eclipse which occurs on March 14, the date when the Earth will cast its shadow on the Sun from the Moon's horizon. High-resolution video would afford this really unusual photography of the Moon's place during the eclipse.
This mission signifies a real milestone in the expedition aimed at increasing the frequency and accessibility of Moon landings. Then NASA along with its partners laid the groundwork for entering into a new age of space exploration, which could lead future missions to the Moon and possibly possible human trips. Certainly, the missions will turn out to be many in the near future.ssible human trips. Certainly, the missions will turn out to be many in the near future.
