From the Moon, NASA’s LEXI Will Reveal Earth’s Magnetic Shield

  • Released Friday, January 3, 2025
View full credits

NASA’s next mission to the Moon will carry an instrument called LEXI (the Lunar Environment Heliospheric X-ray Imager), which will provide the first-ever global view of the magnetic environment that shields Earth from solar radiation.

From the surface of the Moon, LEXI will capture wide-field images of Earth's magnetic environment, or magnetosphere, in low-energy (or "soft") X-rays. LEXI will study changes in the magnetosphere and help us learn more about how it interacts with a stream of particles from the Sun called the solar wind, which can pose hazards for Artemis astronauts traveling to the Moon.

Learn more about LEXI and its CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) flight to the Moon from Hyunju Connor, LEXI co-investigator at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

More on LEXI: https://science.nasa.gov/science-research/heliophysics/nasas-lexi-will-provide-x-ray-vision-of-earths-magnetosphere/

Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.

Complete transcript available.

Music credit: "Breakthrough Discovery" by Phillip John Gregory [PRS] from Universal Production Music

The LEXI instrument in a clean facility at Firefly Aerospace.Credit: Robin Berghaus / Boston University

The LEXI instrument in a clean facility at Firefly Aerospace.

Credit: Robin Berghaus / Boston University

In this visualization, the LEXI instrument is shown onboard Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost Mission 1, which will deliver 10 Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) payloads to the Moon.Credit: Firefly Aerospace

In this visualization, the LEXI instrument is shown onboard Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost Mission 1, which will deliver 10 Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) payloads to the Moon.

Credit: Firefly Aerospace

In this data simulation, a white square marks LEXI’s field of view when imaging Earth’s magnetosheath and magnetopause from the lunar surface.Credit: Boston University

In this data simulation, a white square marks LEXI’s field of view when imaging Earth’s magnetosheath and magnetopause from the lunar surface.

Credit: Boston University

In this data simulation, a white square marks LEXI’s field of view when imaging Earth’s magnetosheath and magnetopause from the lunar surface.

Credit: NASA GSFC

The LEXI team packs the instrument at Boston University.Credit: Michael Spencer / Boston University

The LEXI team packs the instrument at Boston University.

Credit: Michael Spencer / Boston University

The LEXI team works with the instrument at Boston University.Credit: Michael Spencer / Boston University

The LEXI team works with the instrument at Boston University.

Credit: Michael Spencer / Boston University

A LEXI team member tests the payload door system.Credit: Robin Berghaus / Boston University

A LEXI team member tests the payload door system.

Credit: Robin Berghaus / Boston University

The LEXI team prepares the instrument for integration with the lander at Firefly Aerospace.Credit: Robin Berghaus / Boston University

The LEXI team prepares the instrument for integration with the lander at Firefly Aerospace.

Credit: Robin Berghaus / Boston University

A LEXI team member snaps a photo of the instrument’s nine optical elements.Credit: Rousseau Nutter / NASA

A LEXI team member snaps a photo of the instrument’s nine optical elements.

Credit: Rousseau Nutter / NASA

Credits

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

This page was originally published on Friday, January 3, 2025.
This page was last updated on Friday, December 20, 2024 at 11:06 AM EST.

Series

This page can be found in the following series: