Firefly’s Blue Ghost Reached The Moon And Sent Amazing Lunar Shots (Photo, Video)

Firefly Aerospace announced a mid-January launch window for its private Blue Ghost lunar lander. The “Ghost riders in the sky” mission is now scheduled to lift off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on Wednesday, 15 January, at 1:11 a.m. EST (0611 GMT) aboard SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket.

Blue Ghost Entered Lunar Orbit

Updated on 18th February

Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost lander has successfully reached the moon. On Thursday, 13th February, the spacecraft ignited its engines for four minutes and 15 seconds. This manoeuvre placed it into an elliptical orbit around the moon, setting the stage for a landing attempt in just over two weeks.

Also, Blue Ghost captured a series of images to mark the achievement, which Firefly later compiled into a striking 27-second time-lapse video.

“I love you to the Moon, but not back – I’m staying there, Blue Ghost. We captured our first shots of the Moon following a successful Lunar Orbit Insertion. The lander will soon begin to circularize its orbit in preparation for landing on March 2,” Firefly Aerospace wrote in an X post.

Blue Ghost Left Earth’s Orbit

Updated on 12th February

On Saturday, 8th February, Firefly’s Blue Ghost spacecraft successfully departed Earth’s orbit after completing a Trans Lunar Injection (TLI) burn. Since launch, the lander has completed health tests, sent 13GB of data, and confirmed all 10 NASA payloads are ready for lunar operations.

While leaving the orbit, Blue Ghost snapped a stunning selfie of Earth, capturing a view along its side that includes the top of its thrusters and Lunar Magnetotelluric Sounder (LMS) probes on either side.

Blue Ghost Successfully Launched

Updated on 15th January

On Wednesday, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched toward space, carrying two lunar landers destined for the moon, including Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost Lunar Lander.

Soon after the launch, SpaceX confirmed Blue Ghost’s deployment.

“Blue Ghost will begin its ~45-day journey to the Moon’s Mare Crisium to conduct numerous @NASA science and technology demonstrations,” SpaceX wrote on X.

The Blue Ghost, a lunar lander standing 6.6 feet (2 meters) tall, was developed during Max Polyakov’s leadership at Firefly Aerospace. It plays a pivotal role in NASA’s Artemis program, which aims to return humans to the moon for the first time in over half a century.

Supporting NASA’s Lunar Research

The Blue Ghost lunar lander will deliver 10 NASA-sponsored science experiments and technology demonstrations to the lunar surface as part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program.

The payloads aboard Blue Ghost Mission 1 aim to advance lunar research and showcase groundbreaking technologies. These include:

• testing methods for collecting regolith samples;

• evaluating Global Navigation Satellite System capabilities;

• developing radiation-tolerant computing;

• exploring ways to reduce lunar dust interference.

Destination: The “Sea Of Crises”

The Blue Ghost lunar lander will spend 25 days in Earth’s orbit before executing an engine burn to set it on a trajectory toward the moon. Upon arrival, the lander will spend 16 days circling the moon preparing for an autonomous landing. Its targeted destination is Mare Crisium, also known as the “Sea of Crises” — a vast basaltic plain approximately 460 miles (740 kilometres) wide, created by an ancient asteroid impact.

Capturing Lunar Imagery In High Definition

If everything goes as planned, the Blue Ghost lunar lander will send its first high-definition images from the lunar surface within 30 minutes of landing. The lander will have 14 days to operate before the lunar night begins, cutting off its solar power. However, its batteries are expected to provide about five more hours of energy, allowing it to capture images as the sun sets on the moon.

The data collected from the mission will provide valuable insights into how space, weather, and cosmic forces affect Earth, contributing to a broader understanding of our planet and its environment.

Resilience Moon Lander: A Collaborative Effort

Accompanying Blue Ghost is the Resilience moon lander, developed by Japanese company ispace. This mission marks ispace’s second attempt at a lunar landing after the unsuccessful Hakuto-R mission in April 2023.