Plasma Interactions with Mare Crisium Crustal Magnetic Fields during the Firefly Blue Ghost Mission 1 (BGM1)

The Firefly Blue Ghost Mission 1 (BGM1) landed in the Mare Crisium basin on March 2 and operated through March 16, 2025. Mare Crisium is known to have two regions of enhanced magnetization: a northern and southern field. The BGM1 mission encountered all plasma environments including landing in the solar wind, entering the magnetosheath and magnetotail prior to the conclusion of the mission. Crustal magnetic fields interact dynamically with the plasma environment altering and potentially preventing solar wind flow to the surface, reflecting protons, and occasionally forming mini magnetospheres. Apollo (A12, A16) magnetometers observed a compression of the crustal fields as a function of solar wind pressure, and the extent was observed up to 200 km. In this study, we analyze the interaction of the Mare Crisium crustal fields with the plasma environments experienced during the BGM1, depicted below. We discuss preliminary results using the 3D AMITIS hybrid model (particle ions, fluid electrons) to study the local field and particle interactions. AMITIS includes an empirical model of the Mare Crisium anomalies based on Lunar Prospector and Kaguya data.