UM’s Massimiliano Galeazzi collaborated on an X-ray telescope landed on the moon in March 2025 to capture the first images of X-rays emanating from the edges of Earth’s magnetosphere, which shields the planet from solar radiation. The instrument was created by Boston University’s Brian Walsh and is based on a telescope that launched in 2012 aboard a sounding rocket Galeazzi developed.

“One of the main issues we encountered … was translating an instrument developed for a rocket to one based on the moon,” says Galeazzi. “One of the challenges LEXI faces is observing the area of the sky between the Earth and the sun without being blinded by their emission. So, it required a carefully designed Earth and sun shield.” LEXI is aboard the Blue Ghost lunar lander as part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative. 

• Massimiliano Galeazzi