In Florida’s Cape Canaveral, a private lunar lander has captured the first high-definition sunset images from the moon. Firefly Aerospace and NASA unveiled the breathtaking photos on Tuesday, taken before the Blue Ghost lander ceased communication over the weekend. One picture even featured Venus in the distance. Blue Ghost, courtesy of Firefly, successfully landed on the moon on March 2, marking the first private spacecraft to achieve an upright landing and complete its mission. Despite continuing to capture images and gather scientific data for five hours during the lunar night, it eventually ceased operation due to a lack of solar energy. NASA’s Joel Kearns highlighted that Blue Ghost’s sunset images are the first high-resolution visuals from our planetary neighbor. Analysis of these images is necessary to determine the mysterious horizon glow captured in one of the photos, potentially caused by levitating dust as theorized by Gene Cernan of Apollo 17 over fifty years ago. Kearns described the images as “aesthetic” and “unusual,” noting that they showcase captivating features. Blue Ghost, carrying 10 experiments for NASA as part of the commercial lunar delivery program, successfully completed its objectives, although the on-board drill fell short of its intended depth, only reaching 3 feet into the moon instead of the planned 10 feet. Firefly aims to reactivate the lander in early April after the bitterly cold lunar night, although engineers express doubts about its resumption of activity.
