Private spacecraft on important mission sends back rare footage of the far side of the Moon
Topics: Space, Moon, Technology
Joe Yates
Featured Image Credit: YouTube/Firefly Aerospace
Topics: Space, Moon, Technology
A private spacecraft funded by NASA has made its way to the far side of the Moon, and it's sent back some pretty mind-blowing videos.
The Moon looks different to us depending on where you are on Earth and how far along its lunar phase it is, but the face of it never changes.
It means that we see the same side of the Moon that we have, and will continue to do so throughout our entire lives - so news that a private spacecraft has embarked on an important mission to record rare footage of the far side of the natural satellite has got scientists excited, to say the least. Take a look:
Advert
Texas-based firm Firefly Aerospace has set off on an assignment, dubbed Blue Ghost Mission 1, to deliver 10 'science and technology instruments to the lunar surface' - which is part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative.
Having launched on January 15, Blue Ghost is set to spend around 45 days traveling to the Moon, where it will land in Mare Crisium on March 2, and will in turn 'operate payloads for a complete lunar day' - which is about 14 Earth days.
Then on March 14, Firefly hopes to capture 'high-definition imagery of a total eclipse when the Earth blocks the sun above the Moon’s horizon'.
Two days later (March 16), Blue Ghost will capture the lunar sunset and 'provide data on how lunar dust levitates due to solar influences and creates a lunar horizon glow' - which was first documented by Eugene Cernan on Apollo 17 in 1972.
"Following sunset, Blue Ghost will operate several hours into the lunar night," Firefly adds about its mission.
Now, a blog has been created to allow tech-nuts to tune in to how Firefly and the Blue Ghost mission is going.
Firefly journaled today (February 21): "The beauty of taking the scenic route is we have time to adjust our maneuvers based on real flight data along the way!
"For our third and final lunar orbit maneuver scheduled early Monday morning, Firefly will perform a 16-second burn that inserts Blue Ghost into a near-circular low lunar orbit with a 100-km perilune (the closest point to the Moon’s surface).
"This will put us in prime position to perform a Descent Orbit Insertion as planned on March 2. Stay tuned for more."
By now you're probably thinking why does the Moon look different depending on where you are standing on Earth?
Well, if you're in the northern hemisphere you'll see the same moon as those in the southern hemisphere but it will be upside down.
The lunar phase is also different, for example if you're in a country which the equator runs through, a crescent moon will either be at the very bottom or at the very top of the Moon.
While again, in both the northern and southern hemispheres the view is the opposite, but a crescent moon will look like how DreamWorks shows it with the boy fishing off the moon - so either to the right or to the left.