A private lunar lander has successfully snapped the first high-definition images of a sunset on the moon, showcasing the beauty of Earth’s neighboring celestial body. Firefly Aerospace and NASA shared these remarkable photos recently, captured just before the Blue Ghost lander lost communication over the weekend. One of the photos even features the planet Venus in the background.
The Blue Ghost made history by landing on the moon on March 2, becoming the first privately-owned spacecraft to land upright and complete its mission. After touch down, it continued to take photos and gather scientific data for five hours before the lunar night set in and it succumbed to a lack of solar energy.
Joel Kearns from NASA mentioned that the images taken during the sunsets are the first high-resolution pictures released from the moon. Scientists will need to study the images closely, particularly to understand a glow seen on the horizon in one photo— a phenomenon first suggested over fifty years ago by Apollo 17 astronaut Gene Cernan.
Kearns described the images as featuring “really unusual characteristics,” highlighting the aesthetic beauty of the lunar landscape.
The Blue Ghost carried ten experiments for NASA as part of the agency’s commercial lunar delivery program. While the mission met its goals, the onboard drill was only able to penetrate three feet into the moon, falling short of the intended ten feet.
Firefly plans to attempt to reactivate the lunar lander in early April, after it endures a two-week stretch of frigid temperatures during the lunar night. However, engineers are skeptical about whether it will be able to restart.
