By BlueShift and AFP | 2025-03-20

The private US Blue Ghost lander has captured high-definition images of a lunar sunset, which NASA hopes will help unravel the mystery of a strange haze first observed on the Moon in the 1960s.

Texas-based Firefly Aerospace, which published the pictures on March 18, became the first private company to land a robotic spacecraft upright on the Moon earlier this month.

Its Blue Ghost lander touched down on March 2 at Mons Latreille, a volcanic feature within Mare Crisium on the Moon's northeastern near side, and operated until March 16 when it powered down with the onset of the lunar night.

It delivered 10 NASA science and technology instruments as part of the space agency's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative and Artemis campaign.

The mission lasted for about 14 days, or the equivalent of one lunar day and several lunar night hours.

'Beautiful' images

Blue Ghost captured several images and videos, including of a total solar eclipse and a sunset from the surface of the Moon.

One of the new images shows the Sun glowing just above the horizon, its halo tinged with green.

Above it, a small dot marks Venus, while Earth's bright reflection appears almost as large as the Sun at the top of the frame. Another view reveals the setting Sun bathed in a green glow, as seen from a west-facing camera.

Earlier in the mission, on March 14, Blue Ghost also captured high-definition imagery of a total solar eclipse from the Moon.

"We are taking time to have scientific specialists go over all the imagery," said Joel Kearns, deputy associate administrator for exploration at NASA's Science Mission Directorate.

"One of the things they will be looking for is to see if they can identify 'horizon glow' or a mechanism called 'dust lofting.'"

Lunar dust particles may become electrically charged because of ultraviolet radiation from the Sun, causing them to levitate above the surface, say scientists. The phenomenon was first spotted by NASA's Surveyor probes in the 1960s and later observed by Apollo astronauts.

Scientists will compare the images with complementary readings from Blue Ghost's instruments, including electromagnetic field and radiation sensors, to refine existing theories, said Kearns.

"The images themselves are beautiful; they're really aesthetic," he said.

The west-facing image, in particular, shows soil in front of the lander illuminated by light reflected from mountains behind it. The picture's level of detail could help scientists refine models of how light scatters on the lunar surface.

'Extraordinary science data'

Analysis of data returned to Earth will benefit future lunar missions, NASA said in a statement.

"Firefly's Blue Ghost Mission 1 marks the longest surface duration commercial mission on the Moon to date, collecting extraordinary science data that will benefit humanity for decades to come," said Nicky Fox, associate administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate.

The company is already applying lessons to future flights, including Blue Ghost-2 and Blue Ghost-3, said Firefly Aerospace's spaceflight program director, Ray Allensworth.

"The lander is absolutely not designed to survive the extreme cold of lunar night, so I think the probability is very low that we will power back on -- but this lander has surprised me," she added.