The Moon —
On Sunday, a company called Firefly Aerospace became the first private company to make a perfect landing on the moon. Firefly is working with NASA, and its spacecraft, Blue Ghost, is carrying out several experiments for the space agency.
Many efforts at landing on the moon have ended in failure. So far, only the US, Russia, China, India, and Japan have successfully landed spacecraft on the moon. Most of those countries failed in their first attempts.
And those were countries, not private companies. Last year, a lander from a private company called Intuitive Machines, landed safely on the moon’s surface, but then fell over.
Firefly's Blue Ghost lander captured footage of the Moon during its third lunar orbit maneuver on February 24 that inserted the spacecraft in a near-circular low lunar orbit.
On Sunday, a company called Firefly Aerospace became the first private company to make a perfect landing on the moon. Firefly’s spacecraft, Blue Ghost, is carrying out experiments for NASA. Above, an image of the moon taken by Blue Ghost as it orbited the moon before landing.
(Source: Firefly Aerospace, via Flickr.com.)
Blue Ghost is named after a special kind of firefly. The lander was launched into space roughly 45 days ago, on January 15.
Early Sunday morning, the lander fired its engine to begin its journey down to the moon’s surface.
The spacecraft was hidden behind the moon at this point, and had to manage the operation on its own, with no help from Earth. When it came back into view roughly 20 minutes later, everything was still going well.
But the spacecraft was still moving at around 3,800 mph (6,115 kph), so it fired its engine again, to slow down. At 3:34 a.m. New York time, the lander gently touched the lunar surface. Will Coogan, Blue Ghost’s lead engineer, announced, “We’re on the moon!”
A diagram detailing how Blue Ghost will manage its descent to the lunar surface. During the final hour of descent, Blue Ghost uses vision-based terrain relative navigation and hazard avoidance to measure the lander’s position and identify craters, slopes, and rocks before selecting the final hazard-free target within the landing zone. Blue Ghost’s RCS thrusters pulse as needed throughout the descent for a soft landing.
As the spacecraft began to come down, it couldn’t be seen from Earth. It had to manage much of the tricky trip down on its own, slowing down from 3,800 mph (6,115 kph) to land gently on the moon. Above, a diagram showing different parts of Blue Ghost’s journey down.
(Source: Firefly Aerospace .)
Blue Ghost is about 6.5 feet (2 meters) tall, and 11 feet (3.5 meters) wide. Its size and shape helped it land safely. About 30 minutes after it landed, Blue Ghost sent back its first pictures from the moon’s surface.
The lander is carrying out 10 science experiments for NASA. It will be able to drill as deep as 10 feet (3 meters) into the moon to record the temperature.
Other experiments are aimed at learning more about how to control the moon’s dust, which has caused problems for NASA’s moon missions in the past. NASA hopes to send astronauts back to the moon before 2030 as part of its Artemis program.
Blue Ghost Mission 1 - Shadow on the Moon's Surface
After it landed, Blue Ghost sent back pictures from the moon’s surface. It will run experiments for about 14 days. NASA is working with several private companies to develop technology to land supplies on the moon cheaply and safely. Above, Blue Ghost’s picture of its own shadow.
(Source: Firefly Aerospace, via Flickr.com.)
The experiments will run for about 14 days. After that, it will be too cold on the moon for the electronics on the lander to work.
Blue Ghost is one of several landers built by private companies, but hired by NASA. NASA’s CLPS* program was designed to encourage private companies to develop the technology needed to land supplies and run experiments on the moon cheaply and safely.
The Blue Ghost mission cost NASA about $145 million ($101 million for the lander and $44 million for the experiments). That’s a lot of money, but it’s cheap compared to how much it might have cost NASA to run a similar mission. One expert says that could have cost as much as $500 million.
NASA has 13 private companies to choose from under its CLPS program. Most of the companies that have been chosen are new, smaller companies like Firefly.
One of these companies is Intuitive Machines. Its new lander is expected to touch down on the moon later this week.
Did You Know…?
Blue Ghost is also helping NASA understand how signals from GPS satellites can be used to help moon missions find their way. The mission also hopes to capture high quality images of the lunar eclipse that will happen on March 13/14.
* CLPS stands for Commercial Lunar Payload Services.