One week has passed since the Blue Ghost spacecraft mission of Firefly company to the moon. NASA’s cargo-carrying spacecraft, which is set to make its second commercial soft landing on the moon, captured a beautiful view of the solar eclipse from space this week, and now an even more impressive image of our planet, Earth, from It has recorded a distance of 4000 miles (6437 km).
According to RCO News Agency, Firefly aerospace company shared this image and wrote: Firefly captured the beauty of our home planet during the combustion of another engine in Earth orbit. This was the ignition of the second engine. With just over two weeks left until the spacecraft departs Earth orbit for interstellar space, the Firefly team will continue to work with NASA payloads on the spacecraft and record science data along the way.
In addition to this image, the researchers shared a video taken during the ignition of the second engine, which shows the Earth receding, according to DigitalTrends.
The spacecraft will now spend just over two more weeks in Earth orbit, gradually adjusting its course until it performs a maneuver known as a lunar transition orbit, followed by a four-day trip to the moon on a path It moves in the name of lunar transit, and after reaching the moon, it must enter the lunar orbit and perform a maneuver called entering the lunar orbit, then orbit the moon for 16 days before landing on the surface of the moon.
Despite the fact that the Apollo missions landed men on the moon more than 50 years ago, landing on the moon remains a challenge. The surface of the moon is covered with rocks and stones and has many areas that have slopes and craters that make landing difficult. The first commercial lunar landing by Intuitive Machines last year ran into problems; Because the lander came down at an angle and landed on the moon somewhat obliquely. The lander was still able to collect science data, but because of its angle, it could only collect a small amount of solar energy, and its operation on the surface lasted only a few Earth days.
Read more:
Stunning video of solar eclipse from space
Firefly is hoping for a smoother landing and will use technology similar to that used to land rovers on Mars, called relative Earth navigation, in which on-board computers use images of the surface below to choose a suitable landing spot.
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RCO NEWS