5 ms·
Blue Ghost lander captures sunset shots on moon before falling silent
- perihelions 2y agoHere's the other photos of Earth eclipses seen from the moon, https://fosstodon.org/@AkaSci/114163135356046535 https://fosstodon.org/@AkaSci/114163135356046535
- celeritascelery 2y agoI am curious what causes these landers to fail in the bitter cold of night? Is it the batteries? It seems like circuitry should be fine.
- looperhacks 2y agoThe moon gets _really_ cold, way below spec for most electronics. That's why sensitive parts are sometimes in a heating component, but that also depends on the battery. And yes, cold batteries might not recover properly.
- celeritascelery 2y agoIs it the actual silicon that can’t handle it, or is contraction in joints and connections that breaks?
- atkailash 2y agoMeanwhile voyager is beyond the solar system. I don’t see why they didn’t use something that’s not solar so they aren’t just littering the moon
- amenghra 2y agoThe moon is huge compared to a single thing we can currently send there. Comparatively, we are “littering” our own atmosphere a ton more during liftoff.
- atkailash 2y ago[dead]
- alwa 2y agoI can’t help but suspect Starship’s recent run of spectacular explosions might frustrate efforts to launch more nuclear-powered craft like the Voyagers too soon…
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- atkailash 2y ago[dead]
- DarmokJalad1701 2y ago> Meanwhile voyager is beyond the solar system Which is powered by Pu-238 - something which is in short supply nowadays, extremely expensive and pretty much inaccessible for a private company like Firefly who built the Blue Ghost lander. > I don’t see why they didn’t use something that’s not solar Cost. NASA paid Firefly $101.5M for the Blue-Ghost 1 contract [1]. Just the RTG used on the MSL Mars Lander cost $109M [2] (not counting the R&D costs). > so they aren’t just littering the moon Well, right now it is harming no one. They can only be seen by cameras orbiting the moon. If and when humanity starts living on the moon, these landers will go in museums and will no longer be "litter". [1] https://spaceflightnow.com/2025/03/18/firefly-aerospaces-blue-ghost-mission-1-concludes-successful-14-day-mission-on-the-moon/ https://spaceflightnow.com/2025/03/18/firefly-aerospaces-blu... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-mission_radioisotope_thermoelectric_generator#Cost https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-mission_radioisotope_the...
- perihelions 2y agoFor context, some moon rovers have radioisotope heaters, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chang%27e_4#Chang'e_lander_and_Yutu-2_rover https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chang%27e_4#Chang'e_lander_and... ("Both the stationary lander and Yutu-2 rover are equipped with a radioisotope heater unit (RHU) in order to heat their subsystems during the long lunar nights") https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunokhod_1#Rover_description https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunokhod_1#Rover_description ("During the lunar nights, the lid was closed, and a polonium-210 radioisotope heater unit kept the internal components at operating temperature") https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radioisotope_heater_unit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radioisotope_heater_unit
- kristianp 2y ago14 days is a long time to keep warm something warm. That's in the realm of a Radioactive decay heater. That might at least keep things warm enough that it can wake up the next day.
- Tempest1981 2y agoCommercial chips have min/max temperature specs, like -20°C to +70°C, or perhaps -40°C to +125°C. (Not sure what spacecraft use.) Lunar temps can drop to -130°C to -250°C
- timhh 2y agoIt is possible to survive the lunar night. See https://space.stackexchange.com/a/67918/40677 https://space.stackexchange.com/a/67918/40677
- butlike 2y agoIt's a private flight. Probably made cheaply. The article said the lander planned to drill 10 feet but could only do 3. Whole thing smells like shoddy craftsmanship.
- LennyHenrysNuts 2y agoGive it a go, see how far you get before we all call your work "shoddy".
- crazygringo 2y agoI don't understand these photos at all. Why does it look like there are two suns in two of the photos -- one at the horizon and one above? Is one of them lens flare or something? I don't think the top one could be an overexposed earth because we're obviously looking at the earth's dark side. And in the other photo (middle in the galley) it looks like a little bit of the earth is eclipsing the second sun.
- piker 2y agoIs the Earth bright like that due to the moonlight reflecting back?
- zokier 2y ago> I don't think the top one could be an overexposed earth because we're obviously looking at the earth's dark side It's Earth. Venus is also visible as small dot.
- verisimi 2y agoNo stars though.
- taberiand 2y agoYou don't usually see stars during the day
- ben_w 2y agoBecause of the atmosphere diffuses all the blue from the sunlight all over the place. I've seen people demonstrate that if you know where to point a telescope, it is just about possible to make out some of the brighter objects — though I can't remember if that was a star or a planet… But in this case, the exposure is set at a level that even Venus isn't quite fully saturating the sensor.
- taberiand 2y ago
- babyent 2y agoo7 buddy Damn I honestly feel for the lander even though it’s just a machine lol