Blue Ghost: Firefly Aerospace's spacecraft makes history with Moon landing
What's the story
Firefly Aerospace's lunar lander, Blue Ghost, has successfully touched down on the Moon. The mission was confirmed by the company's Mission Control near Austin, Texas.
"We're on the Moon," Mission Control reported, adding that the lander was "stable."
This is a major milestone for Firefly as it becomes the first private company to land a spacecraft on the Moon without any mishaps.
Mission details
Blue Ghost's journey and mission objectives
Launched in mid-January from Florida, the 2m tall Blue Ghost lander carried 10 experiments for NASA.
The space agency invested $101 million for this delivery, plus another $44 million for the onboard science and tech experiments.
This is the third mission under NASA's commercial lunar delivery program, which seeks to foster a competitive lunar economy among private businesses ahead of future astronaut missions.
Technological advancements
Unique features and contributions
The Blue Ghost lander comes with a vacuum to collect lunar soil for analysis and a drill to measure temperature up to 3m below the surface.
It also carries a device to eliminate abrasive lunar dust, which had posed challenges during NASA's Apollo moonwalks.
The lander has been sending stunning images of Earth and detailed views of the Moon's surface back home.
Future missions
Upcoming lunar landings and NASA's vision
Another lunar lander from Houston-based Intuitive Machines is scheduled to touch down on the Moon later this week.
This upcoming landing is part of NASA's vision to keep a rhythm of two private lunar landers per year, according to the agency's top science officer Nicky Fox.
Even with potential failures, Fox is optimistic about this ambitious plan for future lunar exploration missions.
Payloads
Blue Ghost's scientific instruments
The Blue Ghost lander carries multiple science instruments, including one to probe the Moon's interior up to 1,100km deep.
Onboard cameras captured X-ray images of Earth to study space weather interactions with Earth's magnetic field.
Another camera documented the lander's descent, providing valuable data for future lunar missions.
This mission is part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program using private robotic landers for delivering scientific instruments to the Moon.