Next week, a new lander will be launched to the moon carrying NASA science instruments as part of the agency’s push to incorporate more private companies into its lunar program. Firefly Aerospace has developed its first lunar lander for the Blue Ghost mission, which is set to launch on Wednesday January 15, carrying 10 NASA instruments.
The launch, from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, will use a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and is scheduled for 1:11 a.m. ET. It is part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative, which also saw a semi-successful landing on the moon by Intuitive Machines last year.
Blue Ghost aims to land on the moon near a volcanic feature called Mons Latreille, which is located within the Mare Crisium basin in the moon’s northern hemisphere. It will carry instruments and experiments for collecting samples of the dusty material that covers the moon, called regolith, and for drilling beneath the moon’s surface.
“Firefly will deliver six instruments to understand the landing site and surrounding vicinity,” said Chris Culbert, manager of the CLPS initiative at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. “These instruments will study geologic processes and lunar regolith, test solar cells, and characterize the neutron radiation environment, supplying invaluable information as NASA works to establish a long-term presence on the moon.”
NASA wants to recruit private companies like Firefly and Intuitive Machines to help set up infrastructure and perform exploration of the moon as part of the Artemis program, which aims to return humans to the moon within the next few years. Established companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin are developing vehicles for landing humans on the moon, while smaller companies are working on delivering payloads such as scientific instruments. The hope is that, by helping companies create ways to work in low-Earth orbit and on the moon, NASA can save money by becoming a customer of these companies rather than developing all the technology itself.
However, first the companies need to prove that they can make their technology work. Intuitive Machines became the first commercial entity to soft land on the moon, but the lander tipped as it came down toward the surface and landed at an angle. Its payloads did survive, so the mission was deemed a success, but it showed how challenging landing on the moon remains. The company will make a series of other missions to the moon for NASA in future.
“The CLPS initiative carries out U.S. scientific and technical studies on the surface of the moon by robot explorers. As NASA prepares for future human exploration of the moon, the CLPS initiative continues to support a growing lunar economy with American companies,” said Joel Kearns, deputy associate administrator for exploration at NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. “Understanding the formation of the Gruithuisen Domes, as well as the ancient lava flows surrounding the landing site, will help the U.S. answer important questions about the lunar surface.”
