NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) has recently captured intriguing images of a peculiar silver surfboard-shaped object orbiting the Moon. Initially resembling Marvel’s ‘Silver Surfer’ character, the object turned out to be something quite different from the realm of comic books or UFO sightings. Instead, it was the South Korean lunar orbiter, Danuri, caught in a unique cosmic encounter with the LRO.
The images, taken by LRO between March 5 and 6, showcase Danuri as a thin horizontal line resembling the iconic surfboard of the fictional superhero. The Korea Aerospace Research Institute’s Danuri, South Korea’s first spacecraft on the Moon, has been in lunar orbit since December 2022.
NASA explained in a press note that the peculiar appearance of Danuri in the images is due to the extremely fast relative velocity between the two spacecraft. Despite LRO’s camera exposure lasting a mere 0.338 milliseconds, Danuri appears significantly smeared, stretched to around 10 times its actual size in the opposite direction of travel.
The successful capture of these images required meticulous timing and precision from the LRO operations team at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. The task was particularly challenging due to the high relative velocities between the two spacecraft, reaching approximately 11,500 kilometers per hour.
LRO, launched in 2009, has been a crucial asset in gathering essential data about the Moon with its seven powerful instruments. Over the years, it has made significant contributions to lunar studies, providing invaluable insights into the Moon’s composition and surface features.
While initially sparking curiosity reminiscent of science fiction, the ‘Silver Surfer’ object captured by LRO turned out to be a remarkable instance of two spacecraft passing by each other in the vastness of space. The images serve as a testament to the precision and capabilities of NASA’s LRO and the exciting discoveries it continues to make in the exploration of our celestial neighbor.
