1 y ago
"Firefly land on Moon! After identifying surface hazards & selecting safe landing site, #BlueGhost landed directly over the target in Mare Crisium. Historic moment on 2.3.25 we'll never forget. We have Moon dust on our boots! #BGM1 "
📸 Firefly Aerospace(full👇)
x.com/FireflySpace...
six images of digital tokens which landed on the Moon with Blue Ghost mission 1. They are drawings of dogs and cats.
We find ourselves in this curious world of commercial payloads now. Hands up if you know what commercial payloads were on Firefly's impressive mission early this year. The NASA science instruments got lots of press but Blue GHost 1 carried more than that […]
[Original post on mastodon.social]
Three images are put together here. Two show the view to the west near sunset. The sun is on the horizon, Earth above it with Mercury and Venus visible as bright stars. The light seems to be shining from the wrong direction in the foreground. It is sunlight reflected off Mons Latreille enough to illuminate the surface faintly. A small inset shows Earth in eclipse with a nice diamond ring effect. It appeared as a solar eclipse on the Moon and a lunar eclipse on Earth.
Finally, views looking west very close to sunset. The sun is on the horizon, Earth above it in the top view, with some neighbours peeking into the shot. The light seems to be shining from the wrong direction in the foreground - it is sunlight reflected off […]
[Original post on mastodon.social]
Two views from BGM1 looking east. The top one is facing the rising sun, the bottom one is near sunset with the setting sun casting a long shadow. Mons Latreille is partly visible in the bottom view but hidden by shadow and glare in the top one.
These two views look east, the first just after sunrise, the second near sunset. The volcanic cone Mons Latreille is shown in the lower one and would be visible in the top one except we are looking at its shadowed side and sun glare gets in the way a bit. As […]
[Original post on mastodon.social]
Two surface images taken by Firefly's BGM1 mission in Mare Crisium. The views are looking west. The top image is from just after landing, the second view a bit later with a higher sun.
I will finish Firefly's mission with some surface views. These images were taken looking west. The top image was taken just after landing at sunrise with the rising sun casting a long shadow to the west. The lower image was taken later with a higher sun. The […]
[Original post on mastodon.social]
SCALPSS is an experiment from NASA Langley. There were 6 cameras on BGM1 (and 4 on IM-1, 4 more on the Blue Moon Mk1 pathfinder lander coming up soon). They look for surface effects of the rocket plume, which will matter when we have successive landings at places where infrastructure is being […]
A very preliminary map constructed as a mosaic of SCALPSS (Stereo Cameras for Lunar Plume Surface Studies) images from Firefly's BGM1 mission. the gaps around the edge can be filled in easily, and the central diamond-shaped gap can be covered with bits of later images.
I really want to have two more maps for Firefly's BGM1 mission: an improved version of what I am showing here and a further enlargement showing the space under the lander, locating the drill, Planetvac and other experiment locations, the surface changes […]
[Original post on mastodon.social]
Planetvac ejected a rock - and yes, it was named Dwayne. Not sure why... The SCALPSS image under the lander shows the LISTER drill hole, and beside it a pit with coarser material in the middle... I have labelled it as caused by the Planetvac sampling but it could be from the landing thrusters […]
15 small images make up a 'storyboard' summary of the Firefly BGM1 mission. The images take us from the first surface image to initial antenna deployment, the LISTER drill operations, Planetvac operations (a new sample collecting mechanism), the deployment of the LMS sensors (one of them caught in flight) and its antenna, and SCALPSS images under the lander.
Firefly landed successfully and operated flawlessly (as far as I can tell), as \i am sure you all know. Here is the Firefly web page for the mission:
https://fireflyspace.com/missions/blue-ghost-mission-1/
and here is their image and video site […]
[Original post on mastodon.social]
Two maps show the BGM1 landing site in more detail. The top one covers an area about 400 m across, with 2 circles representing different versions of the landing target. The actual landing is just slightly outside the larger, later circle. The lower map is a mosaic of lander images to show the area in more detail. The lander is drawn to scale with its Lunar Magnetotelluric Sounder array around it (4 antennae, each 20 m long, forming a cross-shaped array for probing the subsurface.
Two more maps take us down to the BGM1 lander. The top image is from LRO, the bottom one is made of spacecraft descent images, using the LRO image as a base to get the geometry right. In the top image the lander and its shadow are visible. In the lower map […]
[Original post on mastodon.social]
Four maps which zoom in on the Firefly Blue Ghost Mission 1 landing site. The first two show a small volcanic cone called Mons Latreille. The last image shows the descent track meandering up from the south.
Here is one of my trademark zoom-in sets of images to help locate the Firefly BGM1 landing site. It's quite close to and northwest of a small breached volcanic cone called Mons Latreille. It's visible from the landing site but we didn't get a full panorama […]
[Original post on mastodon.social]
Five maps illustrate work by Mélissa Martinot and colleagues looking at alternative sites for Firefly's first mission to Mare Crisium. The landing site had already been chosen but a fresh look at the problem is always interesting. The work was presented at the European Lunar Symposium in Dumfries, Scotland, in June 2024. At the top is a map of Mare Crisium showing magnetic anomaly areas, which were to be avoided. 7 sites were suggested, with more geological diversity than the 'official' site, but that was not really important for this mission. Four maps below show the sites in more detail.
What we saw yesterday might be called the official site selection process for Firefly's first lander. But there's more to the story. Often people outside the mission offer suggestions as well, and here we see work by Mélissa Martinot and colleagues looking at […]
[Original post on mastodon.social]
Seven small maps show the landing site selection process for the first Blue Ghost mission from Firefly. At top, Mare Crisium is shown with 2 areas identified. They are enlarged below. One was for a geophysical network mission study, the other was preferred for this mission. At middle right is an image showing the volcanic cone Mons Latreille with 3 possible locations indicated. Each of the 3 is enlarged in the bottom row. The site at bottom right was chosen for the mission.
This map starts with 2 sites in Mare Crisium (map A). B and C show the 2 sites. In D several possible locations near the small volcanic hill Mons Latreille are shown, with further details in E, F and G. The site shown in G was chosen for the landing. This […]
[Original post on mastodon.social]
... The Firefly lander originated as the lander called Beresheet or Genesis, flown by the Israeli company SpaceIL in 2019. It crashed. Firefly modified the design and built it in the US to ensure it was eligible for NASA funding. OK, we have a lander - now, where is it going to land?
This CLPS […]
I am compiling a history of lunar exploration which organizes missions by launch date. For the first time my scheme ran into difficulty his year when Firefly's Blue Ghost Mission 1 and ispace's Hakuto-R Mission 2 were launched on the same Falcon 9. I will look at the Firefly mission first and […]
Claire de Lune - we listen for Blue Ghost @firefly-aerospace.bsky.social since sunrise, but it did not phone home. #BGM1 is now exposed to maximum heat. BGM-1 was not designed to survive the lunar night, but chances were greater than zero. We tried..📡〰️👋
S’en est donc définitivement fini pour #BlueGhost qui ne s’est pas rallumé suite à la nuit lunaire (comme prévu) #BGM1
Sound of Silence - Hello darkness, my old friend; I've come to talk with you again. The sun has risen for #BGM1 @firefly-aerospace.bsky.social at 2025-Mar-31 13:40UTC. Nothing has been heard yet 📡〰️〰️ but it is still very early in the morning of the lunar day... 🤞
Blue Ghost #BGM1 @firefly-aerospace.bsky.social flew to the moon and landed there faster than the package arrived at my house😅. But I'll have the model built by the next lunar day, I promise!🤞📡〰️🛰
Rise and shine! Firefly’s #BlueGhost lander captured its first sunrise on the Moon, marking the beginning of the lunar day and the start of surface operations in its new home. #GhostRiders #science #photography #nasa #space #art #landscape #BGM1
#BlueGhost #BGM1 moduluaren misioa bukatu den arren, #FireflyAerospace konpainiak ilargiko ilunabar eder honen argazkia zabaldu dute
NASA Science Continues After Firefly’s First Moon Mission Concludes
#BlueGhost #BGM1 @Firefly-Aerospace.bsky.social 🧪🔭
www.nasa.gov/news-release...
#BlueGhost
A Lunar Sunset Video capturing the horizon glow. The NASA science team is excited to analyze these images further and share more on the findings soon!
Credit: @firefly-aerospace.bsky.social
📷 flic.kr/p/2qSJJfR 🧪🔭 #BGM1
A lunar landscape at sunset. A large bright spot on the horizon line is the sun setting. Another large bright spot above it is the Earth. A small bright dot is Venus.
#BlueGhost
Sunset on the Moon captured by Firefly’s Blue Ghost lunar lander. With Earth and Venus on top of that!
Credit: @firefly-aerospace.bsky.social
📷 flic.kr/p/2qSHJA7 🧪🔭 #BGM1
🌅 Coucher de Soleil sur la Mer des Crises, la Lune 🌖
Encore des images magnifiques du robot Blue Ghost #BGM1 qui aura parfaitement rempli sa mission et est passé en "mode monument" pour la postérité au cas où il ne survit pas à la longue nuit lunaire.
🔭🛰️
© @firefly-aerospace.bsky.social
NASA and Firefly Blue Ghost Lunar Mission Wrap Up Briefing
plus.nasa.gov/scheduled-vi...
@firefly-aerospace.bsky.social #BlueGhost #BGM1 🧪🔭
Meanwhile @firefly-aerospace.bsky.social nailed Blue Ghost Mission 1, 14 days of lunar ops
More here: fireflyspace.com/news/firefly...
Briefing with NASA later today here: plus.nasa.gov/scheduled-vi...
#BGM1
Blue Ghost lunar lander with a crescent Earth on the horizon.
#BlueGhost
Firefly’s Blue Ghost lunar lander at sunset with a crescent Earth on the horizon.
Credit: @firefly-aerospace.bsky.social
📷 flic.kr/p/2qSvk6A 🧪🔭 #BGM1
A black and white shadow selfie of the Blue Ghost lunar lander.
#BlueGhost
Sunset Shadow
Firefly's Blue Ghost lunar lander captures photo of its shadow on the Moon with the volcanic feature, Mons Latreille, visible on the top right side of the lunar surface.
Credit: @firefly-aerospace.bsky.social
📷 flic.kr/p/2qSwh2d 🧪🔭 #BGM1
That's a wrap for #BGM1! After downlinking more than 119 GB of data, including 51 GB of science and technology data for NASA, we're beyond proud to say Firefly met all our mission objectives.
fireflyspace.com/news/firefly...
