Private lunar lander Blue Ghost lands on moon with NASA special delivery
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Cape Canaveral: A private lunar lander, Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost, successfully touched down on the moon on Sunday, delivering a suite of scientific instruments for NASA. The mission marks another step in the growing commercial push to establish a lunar economy ahead of planned astronaut missions.
Descending autonomously from lunar orbit, the lander aimed for an ancient volcanic dome within an impact basin on the moon’s northeastern near side. The landing was confirmed by Firefly’s Mission Control in Texas, which reported that the spacecraft had touched down stably and upright, a key achievement that sets Firefly apart as the first private company to land on the moon without crashing or tipping over.
This milestone places Firefly Aerospace among an elite group, as only five nations—Russia, the US, China, India, and Japan—have successfully landed spacecraft on the moon. Blue Ghost’s arrival also precedes two more private lunar landers expected to follow in the coming weeks.
Launched in mid-January from Florida, the 6.5-foot-tall (2-meter) lander carried 10 NASA experiments. The space agency paid $101 million for the delivery, along with an additional $44 million for the scientific payloads. This mission is the third under NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program, designed to foster competition among private companies and establish a sustainable lunar economy.
The experiments on board will operate for about two weeks before lunar nightfall, when the lander is expected to shut down. Key scientific instruments include a vacuum to collect lunar soil samples, a drill capable of measuring subsurface temperatures up to 10 feet (3 meters) deep, and a device designed to combat the abrasive lunar dust that plagued Apollo astronauts.
Blue Ghost transmitted breathtaking images of Earth on its journey to the moon, followed by detailed shots of the lunar surface while in orbit. Additionally, an onboard receiver successfully acquired signals from the US GPS and European Galileo navigation satellites, a significant step toward improving navigation for future lunar explorers.
The successful landing signals the beginning of an intense period of private-sector lunar activity. Houston-based Intuitive Machines is set to land another lunar spacecraft on Thursday, targeting a site near the moon’s south pole. The company previously landed a craft in February, though it tipped over upon arrival. Meanwhile, Japanese company ispace is also planning a landing in the coming months, following a failed attempt in 2023.
The moon’s surface is littered with wreckage from past failed missions, a challenge that NASA acknowledges as it pushes forward with its goal of launching at least two private lunar landers per year. NASA’s top science official, Nicky Fox, emphasized that while failures are inevitable, each mission contributes valuable lessons for future exploration.
Firefly CEO Jason Kim highlighted the contrast between NASA’s Apollo-era landings—backed by billions of dollars and human pilots—and today’s commercial missions, which rely on autonomous robotic landers operating on significantly smaller budgets. “Every time we go up, we’re learning from each other,” Kim said, underscoring the collaborative effort shaping the future of lunar exploration.
With PTI inputs