Moonbound: Firefly and iSpace Pave the Way for the Next Era of Lunar Exploration

Firefly’s Blue Ghost and iSpace’s Resilence Landers successfully launched from Kennedy Space Center, advancing lunar exploration with cutting-edge tech. At 1:11 a.m. Eastern Time that night, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. On board the rocket were two lunar landing modules— RESILIENCE HAKUTO-R Mission 2 for Japanese aerospace company ispace and Firefly’s Blue Ghost landing module, which carries 10 science and technology payloads for NASA.

Firefly and iSpace Go back to the Moon

“This mission embodies the bold spirit of NASA’s Artemis campaign – a campaign driven by scientific exploration and discovery,” said NASA Associate Administrator Pam Melroy.

The rocket’s first stage returned to Earth as planned, landing on SpaceX’s Just Read the Instructions drone a few miles offshore in the Atlantic Ocean about 8.5 minutes after liftoff.

The rocket’s second stage continued onward and upward as planned, delivering Blue Ghost into a transitional orbit of the moon about 65 minutes after launch and deploying Resilience 27 minutes later.

Following liftoff and launch vehicle separation, Firefly received a signal from Blue Ghost’s lunar landing module at 2:26 a.m. ET. Blue Ghost is officially on its way to the Moon, and Firefly will provide regular mission updates.

“Blue Ghost is on its way to orbit!” Firefly Aerospace celebrated in a statement following the launch. “Go Ghost Riders in the sky!”

So, Firefly and iSpace’s Landers were launched successfully.

Firefly Aerospace and Ispace launched together for financial reasons to split up and go to the Moon, each on its own trajectory. Both lunar landers have a long list of missions. Some technologies could change how we land on the moon and even help aid human life on the lunar surface.

A second chance for HAKUTO-R lunar mission

The Blue Ghost lunar landing module shares a payload bay with another mission to the moon’s surface, the Resilience probe from private Japanese company ispace.

RESILIENCE is part of Japanese aerospace company ispace’s HAKUTO-R Mission 2. This is the company’s second attempt – the first landing attempt in April 2023 failed just a few kilometres above the moon’s surface.

Resilience is taking a very energy-efficient path to the moon and will, therefore, get there after Blue Ghost does. If everything goes to plan, the Japanese lander will touch down in Mare Frigoris (“Sea of Cold”), in the moon’s northern hemisphere, about 4.5 months from now.

The landing module will deploy a micro-marship called TENACIOUS and collect regolith samples.

Resilience will also carry a commercial payload that includes water electrolyser equipment, a food production experiment, a deep space radiation probe and a commemorative ally plate developed by Bandai Namco Research Institute.

The Tenacious micro rover will carry a model of the Moon House, created by Swedish artist Mikael Genberg and installed on the rover.

Firefly Aerospace’s first mission to the Moon

Blue Ghost Mission 1, which Firefly has dubbed Ghost Riders in the Sky, was selected as part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program. CLPS contracts with companies to deliver NASA scientific data and payloads to the lunar surface, mainly supporting the agency’s Artemis program to land astronauts back on the lunar surface.

The Firefly Blue Ghost landing module is slightly larger than the average car, measuring 2 meters tall and 3.5 meters wide. Its hull bears the names of all the company’s employees and key investors.

This first Firefly Blue Ghost mission will deliver 10 scientific and technical instruments to the lunar surface. The payload is designed to conduct several demonstrations, including testing regolith sample collection, Global Navigation Satellite System capabilities, radiation-resistant computing and lunar dust mitigation. This research will help pave the way for humanity’s return to the Moon.

Blue Ghost will spend about 45 days en route to the moon. Firefly Aerospace plans to land on the Moon on Sunday, March 02, 2025.

After landing, the lunar module will operate with payloads for a full lunar day (about 14 Earth days).

Before sunset, Blue Ghost’s 360-degree camera will observe a solar eclipse in which Earth will pass between our natural satellite and the light of the Sun.

These images will show scientists how the lunar regolith reacts to solar influences in lunar twilight conditions. The landing module should be able to do all of this before the lunar nightfall.

Julianne Seaman, NASA’s science mission director at SpaceX, described the Blue Ghost mission as “one step closer to making life multi-planetary.”