Firefly ‘Blue Ghost’ lunar lander touches down on the moon

In recent years, there’s been a lot of focus on venturing to the south pole of the moon, where ice may be trapped in permanently shadowed lunar craters. The lunar south pole is a destination for future crewed Artemis missions, as well as robotic explorers. But Blue Ghost and its suite of scientific instruments were intended to land elsewhere, said Dr. Nicola Fox, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. “The moon is an incredible place for science,” Fox said. “We don’t want to go to the same place every single time because we want to learn more and more about the moon. It’s like going on vacation. You don’t want to go to the same place all the time. As we are preparing to send astronauts back, we want to make sure we understand all the areas, and we’ll still be characterizing it for astronaut safety, but we’re also looking at where the most interesting regions are.” Fox also noted that the 10 instruments aboard Blue Ghost are “like a holisitic suite, perfectly ... Read full article.