Firefly’s Blue Ghost and ispace’s RESILIENCE lunar landers launched from Florida, marking a significant step in lunar exploration.
Cape Canaveral: Early Wednesday morning, the sky lit up as a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket took off. This launch was special because it sent two lunar landers into space.
Onboard were Firefly’s Blue Ghost and ispace’s RESILIENCE, both carrying important science and tech payloads for NASA. Once in orbit, Blue Ghost will head to the moon first, followed by RESILIENCE.
Julianna Scheiman from NASA called the Blue Ghost mission a big step toward making life on other planets possible. The lander is named after a rare firefly species, fitting for Firefly Aerospace.
They even have a cool mission name: Ghost Riders in the Sky. The idea is to create a highway to the moon, according to Kevin Scholtes from Firefly.
Firefly got the contract from NASA in 2021 to carry 10 payloads to the moon. They were chosen for their ability to handle the weight of the payloads.
This mission is part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services program, which uses private companies to deliver science payloads to the moon. The goal is to learn more about the moon and help design future spacecraft.
Blue Ghost is set to land in March 2025 at the Mare Crisium crater. It will use onboard cameras to ensure a safe landing, as the exact surface conditions are still a mystery.
Firefly has done extensive testing to prepare for this mission. The lander is about the size of a car, measuring 6.6 feet tall and 11.5 feet wide.
Once Blue Ghost separates from the Falcon 9, it will start sending health data back to Earth. The journey to the moon will take 45 days, which allows for efficient use of fuel and time.
One of the payloads, the Lunar GNSS Receiver Experiment, aims to test a future navigation system for the moon. It will gather data from Earth and the lunar surface.
Other experiments will study lunar conditions to improve future spacecraft designs and astronaut safety. One experiment focuses on dealing with moon dust, which was a challenge during the Apollo missions.
After landing, the payloads will have just 14 days of sunlight to collect data. The NASA payloads include various experiments aimed at understanding the moon better.
Jason Kim, CEO of Firefly, expressed pride in contributing to lunar exploration. Meanwhile, ispace’s RESILIENCE lander is set to land in a few months, deploying a micro rover to collect samples.
For the latest updates from the Space Coast, check out the FLORIDA TODAY Space Team at FloridaToday.com/Space.
Brooke Edwards is a Space Reporter for Florida Today. You can reach her at bedwards@floridatoday.com or on X: @brookeofstars.
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: NASA science: Firefly Blue Ghost lander launches from Florida to moon.
