Image credit: Firefly Aerospace
Firefly Aerospace reports that their Blue Ghost Moon lander is engaged in surface operations of select NASA payloads.
Those operations include the deployment of the Lunar PlanetVac and sampling lunar regolith, deploying the Electrodynamic Dust Shield and demonstrating dust mitigation, capturing images from the Stereo CAmera for Lunar Plume-Surface Studies (SCALPSS).
Image credit: Firefly Aerospace
I think I’m going to hurl! Considerable plume interaction with the lunar surface.
Image credit: Firefly Aerospace
Rocket plume
SCALPSS is provided by NASA’s Langley Research Center and uses stereo imaging photogrammetry to capture the impact of the lander’s rocket plume on lunar regolith as the craft descended.
Indeed, landing imagery taken by Blue Ghost shows material being tossed into the air from the spacecraft’s plume.
One rock is shown being flung into the air, impacting the lunar surface a distance away.
Go to landing video at:
https://youtu.be/NpHhEybJdxg?si=6_aeMSVSySDn6o_M
Lunar PlanetVac deployed by Blue Ghost.
Image credit: Firefly Aerospace
Blast of gas
The Lunar PlanetVac is to showcase pneumatic sample collection of lunar regolith by collecting and sorting regolith within its sample collection chamber. Upon deployment to the surface, PlanetVac fires a blast of gas into the lunar surface. That action lofts lunar surface material into a collection chamber for visual (camera) inspection.
PlanetVac is a device developed by Honeybee Robotics (Blue Origin).