We knew it was only going to operate for one lunar day, but it was still a little surprising to say goodnight and goodbye to Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost Sunday evening after lunar sunset at its landing site on the Mare Crisium Sunday the 16th. New Moon, after all, is March 29th so parts of the moon still have nearly two Earth weeks of sunlight left. It's just that the Sea of Crises is closer to the eastern limb, so sunrise and set both happen earlier on the calendar there than farther west on the moon.
Blue Ghost landed on the moon at 3:34 EST on Sunday March 2nd, so shutting down on the 16th meant 14 days of operation on the moon which was the targeted life of the mission they called Ghost Riders in the
Sky.
"We battle-tested every system on the lander and simulated every mission scenario we could think of to get to this point," Blue Ghost Chief Engineer Will Coogan said in a Firefly statement today (March 17) that announced the end of the mission.
"But what really sets this team apart is the passion and commitment to each other," he added. "Our team may look younger and less experienced than those of many nations and companies that attempted moon landings before us, but the support we have for one another is what fuels the hard work and dedication to finding every solution that made this mission a success."
Blue Ghost was part of NASA's CLPS program - Commercial Lunar Payload Services - and was carrying 10 different payloads for the agency.
The lander beamed home a total of 119 gigabytes (GB) of data, including 51 GB of science information, before going dark as expected on Sunday at around 7:15 p.m. EDT (2315 GMT), according to Firefly.
...
"We're incredibly proud of the demonstrations Blue Ghost enabled, from tracking GPS signals on the moon for the first time to robotically drilling deeper into the lunar surface than ever before," [Firefly CEO Jason] Kim said. "We want to extend a huge thank you to the NASA CLPS initiative and the White House administration for serving as the bedrock for this Firefly mission. It has been an honor to enable science and technology experiments that support future missions to the moon, Mars and beyond."
Firefly documented all 10 of the science payloads on their own website in their "Farewell Blue Ghost" post. And a YouTube channel called iGadgetPro that I think I watched for the first time ever had a video about the mission closing down that included this text that was left on screen for 30 seconds. That's a long time for a video that's three minutes long.
Screen capture from the iGadgetPro video.
From what I understand, missions to cold places need an atomic pile to keep the components functional.
ReplyDeleteDoes this mean that Moon probes will always die at sunset?
I've done cursory searches for builders of nuclear power plants in the U.S. to research investment opportunities, but I didn't find useful data. I wouldn't know what search terms to use for 'nuclear generators in space'.
I don't think it means all lunar probes die at sunset, but it raises the cost of the probe and getting it there terribly. Batteries or nuclear, adding them adds weight and that makes the mission more expensive and more complicated. A Falcon Heavy costs a small fraction of what the SLS costs per launch but still quite a bit more than a ride share mission on a Falcon 9, like this one was, costs.
DeleteI don't know how much impact designing the probe to survive the night and start operating at sunrise would cost, but it's a different approach that might work.
Radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTG, RITEG), are the nuclear generators you are looking for. They are powered by the heat from decaying Plutonium 238 (PU 238). Nuclear battery technology (using non thermal radiation) is not sufficiently developed / developable. Tiny ( 3 Mile Island, Fukoshima, Chernobyl like) nuclear reactors are being developed to power vehicles, houses, etc.
DeletePU 238 is not fission bomb grade. As such, there is a world wide shortage of it. World existing supplies are about 100 pounds. All reserved for scheduled deep space missions. Production is small quantities and intermittent. If you put together a space mission and want some, you go to the end of the line and will have to wait years.
you may find TDY and AJRD interesting
DeleteDylan Thomas
ReplyDelete1914 –1953
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
What a trooper! Did everything it was designed to do, and did it well. We just keep getting better and better at this. Perhaps Blue Ghost will become semi-active when the sun rises again, but it is not planned because cold soak screws up sooooo many components (besides the electronics). I hope for the best, but am prepared for the worst. As it should be in Space exploration.
ReplyDeletespacenews.com/exlabs-and-antares-form-alliance-to-develop-nuclear-powered-spacecraft
ReplyDeleteThat's cool - and encouraging to hear.
Delete