19-02-2025
Flying Lunar Lander Sees Moon's South Pole, Earth 'in the Rearview Mirror'
A new lander is on its way to the Moon, and it's managed to catch some breathtaking views during its journey. As it made its way toward lunar orbit last week, Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost captured mesmerizing footage of Earth "in the rearview mirror." That clip was quickly followed up by images of the Moon's south pole, complete with countless of its trademark impact craters.
In an X post on February 11, Firefly wrote that it had "confirmed Blue Ghost's first trajectory correction maneuver was performed with such accuracy" that it was "skipping the next one" entirely. As their name suggests, these maneuvers are used to adjust a spacecraft's path, typically by firing the spacecraft's thrusters in a sideward direction. From the sound of it, the first of two planned trajectory correction maneuvers compensated so well for Blue Ghost's imperfect path that the second one was no longer necessary.
"With Earth in the rearview mirror, we're on cruise control until we reach the Moon's orbit and perform a Lunar Orbit Insertion in just a couple days," the post continued. "So long, and thanks for all the fish!"
As seen above, the GIF attached to the post depicts Earth rolling away from Blue Ghost's camera. Though Firefly didn't name the instrument responsible for the footage, Blue Ghost's rearview mirror likely consists of NASA's Stereo Cameras for Lunar Plume-Surface Studies (SCALPSS), a six-camera array at the lander's base. These cameras—developed by Redwire Space—will offer mission control a 3D view of the lunar surface during and after Blue Ghost's descent and touchdown. The cameras can "see" in both color and black-and-white, the latter of which was used for SCALPSS' first image from day 15 of the spacecraft's flight.
But that wasn't the end of Blue Ghost's photographic tour. On Friday, February 14, Firefly shared a 28-second clip of Blue Ghost approaching the Moon after successfully joining lunar orbit. A follow-up image depicts the Moon in all its pockmarked glory, with the south pole visible on the far left side.
Blue Ghost has about a week and a half before it attempts to land at Mons Latreille, a volcanic feature within a basin called Mare Crisium. Assuming its landing is successful, the spacecraft will then deploy 10 scientific experiments and demonstrations designed to help out crewed lunar missions in the future.
