In a significant milestone for space exploration, Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost Mission 1 successfully landed on the Moon near Mons Latreille in Mare Crisium on Sunday at 3:34 a.m. EST. This event marks the company’s first Moon landing and the first delivery under NASA’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative as part of the Artemis campaign.
The Blue Ghost lander, carrying ten NASA science and technology instruments, is stable and will operate on the lunar surface for about one lunar day, approximately 14 Earth days.
“This achievement demonstrates how NASA and American companies are leading the way in space exploration,” said NASA acting Administrator Janet Petro. She emphasized the importance of the mission’s technological and science demonstrations for future human exploration.
The lander, launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on January 15, traveled over 2.8 million miles and downlinked more than 27 GB of data. Among the key scientific activities, it successfully tracked signals from the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) at a record distance of 246,000 miles, showcasing the potential of using Earth-based positioning systems on the Moon. The mission also tested radiation-tolerant computing and measured changes in the magnetic field during its journey.
Nicky Fox, NASA’s associate administrator for science, highlighted the mission’s role in preparing for future exploration and fostering a growing lunar economy.
She noted, “The science and technology we send to the Moon now helps prepare the way for future NASA exploration and long-term human presence.”
During its time on the lunar surface, the NASA instruments on Blue Ghost will test subsurface drilling technology, sample collection capabilities, global navigation systems, radiation-tolerant computing, and lunar dust mitigation methods. The mission aims to capture imagery of the lunar sunset and observe how lunar dust reacts to solar influences.
Firefly Aerospace CEO Jason Kim expressed gratitude to NASA, stating, “Blue Ghost’s successful Moon landing has laid the groundwork for the future of commercial exploration across cislunar space. We look forward to more than 14 days of operations to unlock more science data.”
Five vendors have been given contracts for 11 lunar deliveries under NASA’s CLPS program. They will send over 50 instruments to different locations on the Moon, including the South Pole. The contracts are worth up to $2.6 billion through 2028.
This successful mission marks a new era of collaboration between NASA and private companies, paving the way for future lunar and Mars explorations.
