Firefly Aerospace announces plans to offer commercial lunar imaging service to governments and companies, which could supplement or replace the existing one, but NASA's aging orbiter.
18 In June, Firefly announced a service called Ocula, which will render images using tools, placed on her spaceship Elytra. The system will use telescopes at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory with ultraviolet and visible sensors.
These telescopes, installed on the Elytra spacecraft, which revolves around the Moon at altitude 50 kilometers, will be able to receive high-resolution images 20 centimeters. For comparison, primary camera on NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) has resolution 50 centimeters per pixel.
Imaging in the ultraviolet and visible wavelength ranges can be used to identify key minerals, in particular, ilmenite, mineral, associated with the presence of helium-3. The imagery system can also be used for situational awareness – tracking and identification of objects in near-lunar space. Ocula will also provide mission-critical data, which will be useful for future human and robotic missions.
Firefly said, which will begin offering Ocula services next year during the launch of its Blue Ghost lunar lander mission 2, which includes the spaceship Elytra, which will operate in lunar orbit. Another Elytra will carry the Ocula payload during the Blue Ghost mission 3, the launch of which will take place in 2028 year.
The company stated, which will offer images from these initial missions "at low cost" to government and commercial customers, but did not specify the price.
Source: https://spacenews.com