Lunar-bound Blue Ghost captures stunning video of Earth – Digital Trends

After launching aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on January 15, Firefly Aerospace’s moon-bound Blue Ghost spacecraft has been orbiting Earth ahead of a trans-lunar injection maneuver in just under a week’s time.From its current location way above Earth, it’s been beaming back some incredible footage over the last couple of weeks, including this clip of our own planet shared on social media on Monday.T-5 days until Blue Ghost says goodbye to Earth! With the accuracy we achieved on our first two burns, we were able to skip the third Earth orbit maneuver. Blue Ghost is already in a good position to perform our trans-lunar injection in just under a week. Our #GhostRiders… pic.twitter.com/lMHpr8ix14— Firefly Aerospace (@Firefly_Space) February 3, 2025As you can see from Firefly’s post, Blue Ghost is gearing up to continue its journey to the moon, where it will remain in a lunar orbit for 16 days before attempting a landing on March 2. The entire mission is expected to last close to 60 days, including about 45 days traveling time, and 14 days of operations on the lunar surface.Firefly’s Blue Ghost Mission 1 a part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services program, and aims to deliver 10 scientific investigations and technology demonstrations to support future human exploration of the moon under the Artemis program.The Blue Ghost lander, which is about 2 meters tall and 3.5 meters wide, will touch down near a volcanic feature called Mons Latreille within Mare Crisium, a 500-kilometer-wide basin on the moon’s near side, delivering 94 kilograms (207 pounds) of payloads to the lunar surface.Scientific objectives include analysis of lunar regolith properties, investigation of the interactions between solar wind and Earth’s magnetic field, the evaluation of long-distance Global Navigation Satellite System capabilities, and assessment of radiation-tolerant computing, among other activities.“This mission embodies the bold spirit of NASA’s Artemis campaign — a campaign driven by scientific exploration and discovery,” NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy said when Blue Ghost left Earth last month. “Each flight we’re a part of is a vital step in the larger blueprint to establish a responsible, sustained human presence at the moon, Mars, and beyond. Each scientific instrument and technology demonstration brings us closer to realizing our vision.”Reaching the moon is no easy feat, with America’s Peregrine lunar lander suffering a catastrophic glitch on its way there in a mission last year, and Japan’s HAKUTO-R Mission 1 failing in the final moments before touchdown.This is Firefly’s first attempt to land on the moon. Fingers crossed that it nails it.An illustration of Blue Origin’s lander on the lunar surface. Blue OriginNASA has selected Blue Origin to build a human lunar landing system for the Artemis V mission, which is currently targeted for 2029.SpaceX recently shared some stunning footage captured from the second stage of its workhorse Falcon 9 rocket.The clip (below) shows Earth from thousands of miles away, with ocean, land, and cloud all clearly visible. Most striking, however, is the planet’s marble-like appearance that brings to mind the iconic “blue marble” shot captured during the Apollo 17 mission in 1972 that gave us one of our first incredibly clear views of Earth.NASA has big plans for the moon. From sending the first crewed mission to land on its surface in 50 years to setting up a space station in orbit, the agency has multiple missions planned for exploring our planet’s satellite. These include partnerships with a number of private companies as well as NASA-developed projects, such as under the Commercial Lunar Payload Services, or CLPS, program which will contract out the transportation of small payloads to the moon.This week, NASA announced it has selected the company Firefly Aerospace to develop a commercial lander for the far side of the moon. The lander, called Blue Ghost, will be used to deliver several NASA payloads to the moon, including a radio observation mission which is placed on the far side of the moon to minimize the radio noise coming from Earth. This natural radio quiet zone will let the Lunar Surface Electromagnetics Experiment-Night (LuSEE-Night) telescope detect faint radio waves from an early period of the universe known as the cosmic dark ages.Upgrade your lifestyleDigital Trends helps readers keep tabs on the fast-paced world of tech with all the latest news, fun product reviews, insightful editorials, and one-of-a-kind sneak peeks.

Source: https://www.digitaltrends.com/space/lunar-bound-blue-ghost-captures-stunning-video-of-earth/