Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost lander has beamed home a spectacular image of sunrise as seen from the Moon just days after its historic touchdown on the lunar surface.
The pioneering lunar lander made a significant leap for commercial lunar exploration on Sunday, becoming the first private spacecraft to touch down on the Moon without crashing or falling over.
It has carried to the Moon scientific instruments, including a drill and a vacuum for Nasa to further understand the lunar environment.
The decade-old startup successfully achieved the feat, which only a handful of countries – Russia, the US, China, India and Japan – have managed.
Unlike Nasa’s Apollo moon landings, which had billions of dollars of funding behind them, private companies operate on a limited budget, Firefly chief Jason Kim said.
“Every time we go up, we’re learning from each other,” Mr Kim said.
On its way to the Moon, the spacecraft sent an image of the Earth from space, and beamed home another image after its touchdown on the lunar surface.
Now, Firefly has shared an image of the Sun rising from the Moon’s perspective as captured by its lunar lander on Monday.
“Rise and shine! Firefly’s Blue Ghost 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,” Firefly said in a statement.
The lander has started operating “many” of its 10 payloads, and “will continue operations over the next two weeks,” the startup said.
The vacuum equipment is designed to suck up moon dirt for analysis, and the drill would measure temperature about 3m (10ft) below the lunar surface.
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Another device on board would eliminate abrasive lunar dust, which in previous missions was found to cake over surfaces, including on Nasa’s Apollo moonwalkers.
Nicola Fox, Nasa’s associate administrator for science missions, called the image a “reminder” for what lies ahead in this space exploration era.
“What an absolutely breathtaking reminder of the mind-blowing imagery, groundbreaking science, and incredible discoveries ahead in this new era of space exploration!” Dr Fox said.
“Blue Ghost lander witnessed lunar sunrise – the start of a new day on the Moon and two weeks of activities, including a lunar eclipse (from the Moon's perspective) and lunar sunset. Let's go!” Nasa said in a post on X.
