Mashable 01月16日
Watch SpaceX exquisitely set free a pair of moon landers in space
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SpaceX的猎鹰9号火箭在佛罗里达州肯尼迪航天中心成功发射,将两个月球着陆器送入太空。这两个着陆器分别来自不同的客户,一个是为NASA制造的Firefly Aerospace的Blue Ghost,另一个是日本公司ispace的着陆器。这两个着陆器将独自前往月球,其中Firefly的着陆器预计耗时45天,而ispace的着陆器因采用更长的路线以节省燃料,预计耗时4-5个月。这次任务是NASA商业月球有效载荷服务计划的一部分,旨在为未来的载人登月任务做准备。目前只有少数国家成功实现月球着陆,而着陆月球仍然是一项艰巨的挑战,因为月球缺乏大气阻力和GPS系统。

🚀 SpaceX猎鹰9号火箭成功发射,搭载Firefly Aerospace为NASA制造的Blue Ghost着陆器和日本ispace的着陆器,标志着商业月球探索的新篇章。

🛰️ Firefly的Blue Ghost着陆器预计45天后尝试着陆月球,携带10个实验设备,是NASA商业月球有效载荷服务计划的一部分,该计划投资26亿美元支持私营部门向月球运送仪器和数据。

🌕 ispace的Resilience着陆器是该公司第二次尝试登月,它将采取更长的路线以节省燃料,并携带一个小型探测车收集土壤样本进行研究,上次尝试因燃料耗尽而失败。

🌌 月球着陆仍然面临挑战,月球缺乏大气阻力减速,也没有GPS系统辅助导航,只有少数国家成功实现月球着陆,最近一次是日本,而一家公司Intuitive Machines也成功实现月球着陆,但着陆姿态不佳。

On its 100th launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket blasted two lunar landers into space early Wednesday morning. 

The pair are two separate spacecraft from two different customers — one made by Texas-based Firefly Aerospace for NASA, the other by private Japanese company ispace. About an hour into the flight, the rocket released them to continue their long solo journeys to the moon.

SpaceX shared videos of each deployment on X, the social platform formerly known as Twitter and owned by the rocket company's founder, Elon Musk. Both can be watched below.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Jan. 15, carrying two moon landers to space. Credit: SpaceX

Firefly's Blue Ghost lander, originally scheduled to lift off in late 2024, is on its maiden voyage. The uncrewed spacecraft is expected to travel for 45 days before trying to touch down in early March. Its flight is the first NASA Commercial Lunar Payload Services mission of the year

The program has invested $2.6 billion in contracts with vendors from the private sector to help deliver instruments to the moon and send back crucial data. Blue Ghost is carrying 10 experiments for the space agency. NASA wants to see a regular cadence of moon missions to prepare for astronaut-led Artemis expeditions in 2027 or later.

Ispace's new Hakuto-R mission is the company's second attempt to get on the moon, after its first uncrewed lander ran out of fuel and crashed on the lunar surface in April 2023. Ispace's new Resilience lander, a partnership with Japan's space agency JAXA, is taking a longer route to the moon to save on fuel, arriving about four to five months from now. This time the spacecraft is bringing a tiny rover smaller than a toddler's Big Wheel to collect soil for research.

Landing on the moon remains onerous. The moon's exosphere provides virtually no drag to slow a spacecraft down as it approaches the ground. Furthermore, there are no GPS systems on the moon to help guide a craft to its landing spot. Engineers have to compensate for that from 239,000 miles away.

Only five nations — the former Soviet Union, United States, China, India, and most recently Japan — have managed to land on the moon without wrecking beyond recognition. So far just one company, Intuitive Machines, has made the journey all the way through lunar touchdown. Its craft landed sideways near the moon's south pole in February 2024, still managing to operate from its awkward position.

If the latest spacecraft succeed, each will spend two weeks running experiments on the lunar surface before powering down for the brutally cold lunar night. Not much can survive the -270 degrees Fahrenheit brought on by darkness — not even robots. 

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SpaceX 月球着陆器 NASA 商业航天 月球探索
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