NASA and Firefly Aerospace have launched a new mission to the Moon at 08:11 am Kyiv time. The purpose of the mission is to deliver NASA cargo to study the lunar surface and other components. The launch took place using a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, and the lunar landing is scheduled for March 2.
This will be the first mission of the Blue Ghost lander, which was created and developed by Firefly Aerospace. The module's first mission is to deliver scientific equipment to the Moon.
The third U.S. robotic commercial launch successfully lifted off on a @SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. @Firefly_Space’s Blue Ghost lander is expected to reach the lunar surface in March: https://t.co/47IjWBAGbg pic.twitter.com/hXdIOcQnfo
— NASA (@NASA) January 15, 2025Once the cargoes are on the Moon, NASA will begin testing and demonstrating drilling technologies and collecting samples of regolith (lunar rocks and soil). They also want to demonstrate and test a global navigation satellite system, radiation-resistant computing, and methods of mitigating lunar dust on the Moon.
The new mission aims to move 10 NASA cargoes to the moon, which, according to the agency, will help humanity better understand planetary processes and evolution, search for water and other resources, and support long-term lunar exploration in preparation for the first mission to Mars.
Among the 10 cargoes sent by NASA are:
- Lunar Instrumentation for Subsurface Thermal Exploration with Rapidity (LISTER), which will characterize the heat flow from the interior of the Moon.
- Lunar PlanetVac (LPV), which is designed to collect and analyze regolith samples from the lunar surface.
- The Next Generation Lunar Retroreflector (NGLR), which will serve as a target for lasers on Earth to accurately measure the distance between the Earth and the Moon. The retroreflector can also collect data to understand various aspects of the lunar interior and "solve fundamental questions of physics."
- Regolith Adherence Characterization (RAC), which will determine how lunar regolith adheres to a range of materials exposed to the lunar environment during a lunar day.
- Radiation Tolerant Computer (RadPC) is a computer that can recover from malfunctions caused by ionizing radiation.
- Electrodynamic Dust Shield (EDS) is an active dust mitigation technology that uses electric fields to move and prevent the accumulation of hazardous lunar dust on surfaces. This technology is designed to lift, transport and remove particles from surfaces without moving parts.
- Lunar Environment heliospheric X-ray Imager (LEXI), which will be able to take a series of X-ray images to study the interaction between the solar wind and the Earth's magnetic field, which causes geomagnetic disturbances and storms.
- Lunar Magnetotelluric Sounder (LMS) will characterize the structure and composition of the Moon's mantle by measuring electric and magnetic fields.
- Lunar GNSS Receiver Experiment (LuGRE) will be able to demonstrate the receipt and tracking of signals from the constellations of the global navigation satellite system, including GPS and Galileo, during transit to the Moon.
- Stereo Camera for Lunar Plume-Surface Studies (SCALPSS) will use stereo image photogrammetry to capture the impact of the rocket plume on lunar regolith as the lander descends to the Moon.
The Blue Ghost module from Firefly Aerospace will be launched into Earth orbit for 8 hours, where it will remain for 25 days. Then the module will transit to the lunar orbit for 4 days, where it will stay for another 16 days. NASA and Firefly Aerospace expect the module to operate on the lunar surface for 14 days, which corresponds to one lunar day. Mission updates can be found on the official Firefly Aerospace website.
NASA and Firefly Aerospace signed an agreement for the first time to land a lander on the back of the Moon in March 2023. The contract was worth almost $112 million.
We remind you that one of the co-founders of Firefly Aerospace was Ukrainian entrepreneur Max Polyakov. However, he had to sell his stake in the company due to fears of the US government and aerospace industry that Polyakov might transfer valuable technologies to Ukraine, Russia or other countries.
