On Wednesday, two companies, one from the U.S. and the other from Japan, launched robotic lunar landers aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The U.S. company, Firefly Aerospace, sent a lander called “Blue Ghost,” which carries 10 instruments for NASA. The Japanese company, ispace, launched “Resilience,” carrying four instruments and a microrover named “Tenacious.”
The Falcon 9 rocket took off from pad 39A at 1:11 a.m. EST, with Blue Ghost weighing 1,033 pounds. About an hour later, it was released to fly on its own. Resilience followed 21 minutes later, after the rocket completed another engine firing to adjust the trajectory.
Blue Ghost will stay in Earth orbit for 25 days to test its systems. It will then take a four-day journey to the moon, spending 16 days in lunar orbit before landing in the Sea of Crisis (Mare Crisium). The lander will remain on the surface for two weeks to gather data. Firefly CEO Jason Kim said the mission will provide valuable insights into space weather and other factors affecting Earth.
Unlike Blue Ghost, ispace’s Resilience will take a different route to the moon, using a fuel-efficient trajectory. It will reach the moon about two months after launch and attempt a landing in the Sea of Cold (Mare Frigoris). Resilience also carries a microrover, which will deliver a model of a Swedish house to the moon’s surface, part of an artistic project.
The Resilience mission is privately funded, while NASA funded Blue Ghost’s instruments, contributing $44 million. NASA paid Firefly $101 million to carry the instruments to the moon under its Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative, which supports private companies in moon exploration. The data collected will be important for NASA’s long-term plans, including the Artemis missions to send astronauts to the moon.
The instruments on Blue Ghost will study the lunar dust environment, drill into the soil, and test satellite navigation near the moon. The mission will also capture video of a solar eclipse and lunar sunset. The data will help ensure the safety of future astronauts and improve space exploration technology.
