The Blue Ghost lunar lander, developed by Firefly Aerospace, represents a significant achievement in commercial lunar exploration. It was named after the rare Phausis reticulata firefly with the goal of delivering a number of scientific payloads to the Moon’s surface as part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative. The spacecraft was designed to carry instruments that will investigate the lunar regolith, measure heat flow from the Moon’s interior, and test technologies for future lunar missions.
Shadow of Blue Ghost on the lunar surface with Earth in the background (Credit – NASA)
Two of the payloads onboard Blue Ghost are of particular interest and are designed to explore the lunar regolith. The regolith is the layer of fragmented rock, dust, and other materials that covers the lunar surface. It formed over billions of years through meteoric impacts that pulverised the lunar bedrock, this fine-grained material ranges from a few centimetres to several meters thick across different areas of the Moon. Unlike Earth soil, lunar regolith contains no organic components and has been exposed to space weathering from solar radiation, cosmic rays, and micrometeorite bombardment. The particles contain sharp jagged edges and, along with their electrostatic charge cause problems for lunar astronauts.
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Buzz Aldrin’s footprint in the Lunar Regolith (Credit – NASA Project Apollo Archive)
One of the payloads is the aptly named Lunar Instrumentation for Subsurface Thermal Exploration with Rapidity (or LISTER for short.) It features the deepest-reaching robotic planetary subsurface thermal probe ever deployed to an alien world. The instrument’s gas-powered drill has already penetrated about 3 feet into the lunar surface near Mons Latreille in Mare Crisium, but is designed to reach depths of 9 feet. During operation, the drill pauses every half meter to measure lunar temperature, gathering critical data about heat flow from inside the Moon. You can watch the LISTER drill in operation here.
The Lunar PlanetVac (LPV) is a demonstration instrument aboard Blue Ghost. Arguably it is nothing more than a “vacuum cleaner” but one that operates on the surface of the Moon. It uses pneumatic and compressed gas to collect and transfer lunar soil without relying on gravity. Video footage captured the device in action, showing lunar soil and rocks flying across the surface when the pulse of air initiated the collection process. Since landing near Mons Latreille within Mare Crisium, LPV has completed its collection operations and will continue functioning alongside ten other NASA instruments for approximately 14 Earth days (one lunar day).
Both payloads will help us to learn more about the lunar regolith but working with the other parts of the Blue Ghost mission, will help to set the foundations for future lunar missions and in particular a return of human beings to the Moon.
