“Unveiling Mysteries: NASA’s Cameras to Document Blue Ghost Lander’s Lunar Encounter”

Say cheese once more, moon. We are approaching for another close-up.

For the second time within a year, a NASA technology designed to gather data on the interaction between a lunar lander’s rocket plume and the moon’s surface is prepared to embark on the extensive journey to Earth’s closest celestial companion for the benefit of humanity.

Created at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, Stereo Cameras for Lunar Plume-Surface Studies (SCALPSS) consists of a set of cameras situated around the base of a lunar lander to capture images during and following descent and touchdown.

Employing a method known as stereo photogrammetry, researchers at Langley will utilize the overlapping images from the SCALPSS version on Firefly’s Blue Ghost—SCALPSS 1.1—to generate a 3D representation of the surface.

An earlier iteration, SCALPSS 1.0, was aboard Intuitive Machines’ Odysseus spacecraft that successfully landed on the moon last February. Due to mission contingencies that arose during the landing process, SCALPSS 1.0 could not capture imagery of the plume-surface interaction. However, the team managed to operate the payload during transit and on the lunar surface post-landing, instilling confidence in the hardware for 1.1.

The SCALPSS 1.1 payload includes two extra cameras—six in total, as opposed to the four on SCALPSS 1.0—and will commence image capturing from a higher altitude, before the anticipated plume-surface interaction begins, to facilitate a more precise before-and-after analysis.

These images of the lunar surface will not merely be a technological novelty. As lunar missions increase and the quantity of payloads landing in close proximity grows, scientists and engineers need precise data to accurately predict the impacts of landings.

How much will the surface alter? What occurs to the lunar soil, or regolith, that is expelled as a lander descends? With the minimal data collected thus far during descent and landing, SCALPSS aims to be the first dedicated instrument to gauge the effects of plume-surface interaction on the moon in real time and provide insights into these queries.

“If we are placing objects—landers, habitats, etc.—close to each other, we might be sandblasting adjacent assets, which will necessitate requirements for protecting those other structures on the surface, potentially adding mass, which would ripple through the overall architecture,” stated Michelle Munk, principal investigator for SCALPSS and acting chief architect for NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “It’s all part of an integrated engineering challenge.”

As part of the Artemis initiative, NASA’s present approach to lunar exploration involves collaboration with commercial and international partners to establish the first enduring presence on the moon.

This delivery as part of the CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative carries over 200 pounds of NASA scientific experiments and technological demonstrations; SCALPSS 1.1 will start capturing imagery from before the moment the lander’s plume begins to interact with the surface until after the landing concludes.

The final images will be stored on a compact onboard data storage unit before being transmitted to the lander for downlink back to Earth. The team is expected to require at least a few months to process the images, validate the data, and create the 3D digital elevation maps of the surface. The anticipated lander-induced erosion they reveal is likely to be minimal—not particularly deep, at least not this time.

“Even when examining the historical Apollo images—and the Apollo crewed landers were larger than the newer robotic landers—one needs to scrutinize closely to identify where erosion has occurred,” explained Rob Maddock, SCALPSS project manager at Langley. “We are expecting something in the range of centimeters deep—maybe an inch. It largely depends on the landing site, how deep the regolith is, and the position of the bedrock.”

Nevertheless, this presents an opportunity for researchers to evaluate how effectively SCALPSS will function as the U.S. progresses in developing human landing systems as part of NASA’s broader lunar exploration objectives.

“Those will be considerably larger than even Apollo. These will feature substantial engines, which could likely create sizable indentations,” mentioned Maddock. “Thus, we are collecting data that can be utilized to substantiate the models predicting what will occur.”

NASA is collaborating with several American companies to deliver scientific and technological assets to the lunar surface under the CLPS initiative. This program allows different companies from a chosen group of suppliers to bid on providing payloads for NASA, covering everything from payload integration and operations to launching from Earth and landing on the lunar surface.