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Firefly ‘Blue Ghost’ lunar lander touches down on the moon
A robotic lunar lander built by Texas-based Firefly has successfully landed on the moon, becoming only the second private-sector company ever to complete such a feat.
Without the assistance of human eyes inside the spacecraft, modern-day robotic lunar landers use cameras, computers, and sensors equipped with software and artificial intelligence to safely find their landing spots — and avoid boulders and craters — during the final descent. The area was chosen because “it avoids large magnetic anomalies — (or interruptions) — on the lunar surface that could disrupt some of our payload measurements,” said Ryan Watkins, the program scientist for NASA’s exploration science strategy and integration office, during a December briefing. “Of course, we had an idea of how the imagery would look, but seeing the real-life footage of the Moon’s craters and boulders from our very own spacecraft is such an inspiration, and really hits home how close we are to our final destination after all the hard work we’ve put into this mission,” Joseph Marlin, deputy chief engineer for Blue Ghost, previously told CNN in an email.
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