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A spacecraft owned and operated by Firefly Aerospace touched down on the Moon early March 2 to begin a two-week science mission for NASA.
Firefly’s Blue Ghost lander fired its thrusters for 19 sec. to leave a 62-mi.-high lunar orbit about 2:31 a.m. EST and begin its descent to the surface. After a 30-min. coast and with the spacecraft flying about 12 mi. above the Moon, Blue Ghost began a final nine-min. braking burn, reducing its velocity from 5,577 ft. per second to 131 ft. per second.
Using a vision-based terrain navigation system, the spacecraft then positioned itself over the targeted landing site, shifted into a vertical orientation and touched down at 3:34 a.m. at Mare Crisium, a large basin located in the northeast quadrant of the Moon’s near side.
Blue Ghost is the second mission financed by NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services program to reach the lunar surface. Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C spacecraft touched down near the lunar south pole on Feb. 22, 2024, but due to a laser altimeter problem, the spacecraft landed hard, causing some of the landing gear to break on impact. The lander tipped over, cutting short its science mission.
Carrying 10 experiments for NASA, Firefly's Blue Ghost lifted off onboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 on Jan. 5 to begin a 45-day journey to the Moon. The lander is expected to spend one lunar day—the equivalent of 14 Earth days—on the sunlit lunar surface studying the Mare Crisium landscape and subsurface, as well as collecting data about the radiation environment, interactions with the solar wind and the Earth's magnetosphere.
One particular focus will be the lunar dust, which the Apollo astronauts found surprisingly adhesive and abrasive as they conducted the first human exploration of the Moon during the 1969-72 Apollo landings. Blue Ghost also carries payloads to help improve lunar spacecraft navigation and communications.
Two more landers are en route to the Moon. Intuitive Machine’s second Nova-C spacecraft is expected to attempt a landing March 6. Japan’s iSpace launched a small lander and rover as a secondary payload with Blue Ghost and is targeted to arrive in May or June.
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