It's a striking photo, and nicely encapsulates just how dramatic the lighting conditions are near the lunar poles. But, although IM has now successfully *sort of* landed on the Moon twice, they're 0/2 for successfully *fully* landing and being able to fulfill their science objectives. - ThreadSky

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theplanetaryguy.bsky.social • 72 days ago

It's a striking photo, and nicely encapsulates just how dramatic the lighting conditions are near the lunar poles.

But, although IM has now successfully *sort of* landed on the Moon twice, they're 0/2 for successfully *fully* landing and being able to fulfill their science objectives.

Comments

tanyaofmars.bsky.social•72 days ago

I love how hard IM and NASA tried to frame this as "successful" in the press briefing yesterday...meanwhile the stock market certainly disagreed.

dpmanchee.bsky.social•72 days ago

Up the brightness in the image and it looks like they ended up in a crater - though difficult to tell with that type of camera.

Hopefully there will soon be lunar orbiter imagery to confirm location.

markwhitebooks.com•72 days ago

Is the unusual height of their lander related to their polar landing targets, to maximise the light on the solar panels? Or doesn't it make much difference?

Maybe they should put solar panels on the bottom of the landing legs. Always seem to be poking in the air (sorry)

theplanetaryguy.bsky.social•72 days ago

Well, it's worth noting that Firefly Aerospace's lander is of a much more squat design, and touched down successfully. So the height of the IM lander design must surely be an issue. (Is it the *only* issue? I don't know.)

markwhitebooks.com•72 days ago

Yeah, the same thing crossed my mind. It'd probably be fine in well-behaved scenarios, but be less tolerant to even mildly off-nominal conditions.

mrfresh.bsky.social•72 days ago

Very good point re: Blue Ghost’s height, CG, etc.

coredumpster.segv.org•72 days ago

Reportedly they had issues ( again ) with the laser rangefinder that the lander uses to judge its distance from the surface. IM-1 they had an issue where it didn't turn on. I think it's more of an issue with the landing, than craft height, but a squatter design would be more forgiving and stable.

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