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The Blue Ghost lunar lander has been providing stunning images of the Moon since it successfully reached its orbit on February 13.

The latest visuals showcase a detailed view of the far side of the Moon, an area invisible from Earth, captured after the lander adjusted from a high elliptical trajectory to one approximately 120 kilometers (74.6 miles) above the lunar surface, as noted by Firefly Aerospace last week.

In addition to the flyover footage revealing the Moon’s rugged terrain marked by impact craters, the spacecraft also recorded captivating images of the lunar south pole.

“The recent footage from Firefly’s Blue Ghost lunar lander is absolutely surreal,” stated Joseph Marlin, the deputy chief engineer for Blue Ghost, via email.

“While we had a rough idea of what to expect, witnessing the actual images of the Moon’s craters and boulders taken by our spacecraft is truly inspiring and demonstrates how close we are to achieving our ultimate goals after all our effort on this mission.”

The private spacecraft departed Earth’s orbit on February 8, embarking on a multi-day journey to the Moon. (The average distance from the Earth to the Moon is approximately 238,855 miles (384,400 kilometers), as stated by NASA). Currently, Blue Ghost is about halfway through its 16-day moon orbit and is set to attempt a landing on March 2.

The lander is equipped with 10 NASA science and technology instruments as part of the space agency’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program. CLPS is an essential component of NASA’s Artemis program, which aims to revive lunar exploration with an eventual goal of returning astronauts to the Moon after half a century. Once Blue Ghost successfully lands, the instruments will operate for over two weeks, primarily gathering data on the lunar subsurface, including lunar dust and regolith—the loose rocks and mineral fragments on the lunar surface.

“Robotic missions like Blue Ghost play a crucial role in conducting scientific experiments, testing new technologies, and demonstrating capabilities on and near the Moon to prepare for future human missions to the lunar surface and eventually to Mars,” remarked NASA’s Artemis program in a recent Instagram update.

Blue Ghost aims to land on the far eastern side of the Moon’s near side, near Mons Latreille, an ancient volcanic structure located in the 300-plus-mile-wide (483-kilometer) Mare Crisium, or “Sea of Crises.” After this, the lander will conduct surface operations for one lunar day (approximately 14 Earth days) before entering the lunar night, during which it is expected to stop operations due to extreme darkness and cold.

The engineering team behind Blue Ghost is particularly eager for the insights and imagery that will be collected post-landing, according to Marlin.

“Alongside the valuable scientific data we expect to relay back to Earth from our (CLPS) experiments, we anticipate capturing a solar eclipse on March 14. During this event, the Earth will obstruct the sun from the Moon’s surface, casting Blue Ghost into shadow for roughly five hours,” Marlin clarified. He noted that this will be a solar eclipse as viewed from the Moon, while a lunar eclipse will be visible from certain areas on Earth.

“We also look forward to photographing the lunar sunset on March 16 and ideally confirming the phenomenon of dust levitation (when lunar dust appears to ‘float’ above the surface) that was first illustrated by the last Apollo astronaut to walk on the Moon.”