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Blue Ghost Mission 1

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Blue Ghost Mission 1
Rendering of Blue Ghost Mission 1 on the Moon
Names
  • CLPS TO 19D
  • Ghost Riders in the Sky
Mission typeLunar landing
OperatorFirefly Aerospace
COSPAR ID2025-010A Edit this at Wikidata
SATCAT no.62716Edit this on Wikidata
Mission duration0 days (elapsed)
60 days (planned)
Spacecraft properties
SpacecraftBlue Ghost
ManufacturerFirefly Aerospace
Launch mass1,517 kg (3,344 lb)
BOL mass1,469 kg (3,239 lb)[1]
Dry mass469 kg (1,034 lb)[1]
DimensionsHeight: 2 m (6 ft 7 in)
Width: 3.5 m (11 ft)[1]
Power400 watts[1]
Start of mission
Launch dateJanuary 15, 2025, 1:11:39 am EST (06:11:39 UTC)
RocketFalcon 9 Block 5 (B1085.5), Flight 425
Launch siteKennedy, LC-39A
ContractorSpaceX
Lunar lander
Landing dateMarch 2, 2025 (planned)
Landing siteMare Crisium near Mons Latreille

Mission insignia
← IM-1
IM-2 →

Blue Ghost Mission 1 is a robotic Moon landing mission conducted by Firefly Aerospace, launched on January 15, 2025. As part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services program, the mission aims to deliver ten scientific investigations and technology demonstrations to support future human exploration of the Moon under the broader Artemis program. The Blue Ghost lunar lander, developed and tested over several years, launched successfully aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket alongside the Hakuto-R Mission 2 lander from Kennedy Space Center.

The Blue Ghost lander is designed for a soft landing on the lunar surface and a 60-day operational mission. It will deliver 94 kilograms (207 lb) of payloads to Mare Crisium, a 500-kilometer-wide (310 mi) lunar basin. The mission’s objectives include analyzing lunar regolith properties, studying geophysical characteristics, and investigating interactions between the solar wind and Earth's magnetic field. The lander carries advanced instruments such as a regolith adherence characterization device, a lunar retroreflector for precision distance measurements, a radiation-tolerant computer, and thermal exploration probes, among other scientific payloads.

Mission

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Falcon 9 rocket at Kennedy Space Center shortly before the launch of Blue Ghost Mission 1 and Hakuto-R Mission 2

On February 4, 2021, NASA awarded Firefly a contract worth US$93.3 million to deliver a suite of ten science investigations and technology demonstrations to the Moon in 2023. The award is part of the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program,[2] in which NASA is securing the service of commercial partners to quickly land science and technology payloads on the lunar surface as part of the Artemis program.

On May 20, 2021, Firefly Aerospace announced its selection of SpaceX's Falcon 9 Block 5 as the launch vehicle for the inaugural Blue Ghost lunar lander mission. This decision was made due to the Falcon 9's performance and payload capacity, which Firefly's Alpha rocket could not provide.[3] The company indicated that its future Medium Launch Vehicle would support subsequent Blue Ghost missions.[4]

Development milestones for the Blue Ghost lander progressed steadily over the following years. On April 26, 2022, Firefly completed the Integration Readiness Review for the lander, with a tentative launch date set for 2024.[5] In November 2023, Firefly refined the schedule, specifying a launch window between the third and fourth quarters of 2024.

By May 2024, the engines for Blue Ghost were completed,[6] and their integration into the lander was confirmed in June.[7] Firefly announced that preparations were proceeding as planned, with the company reaffirming a Q4 2024 launch target in July.[8] Environmental testing of the lander commenced in August at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), ensuring the spacecraft's readiness for the rigors of spaceflight.[9]

In November 2024, Firefly Aerospace formally announced that the Blue Ghost lander was fully prepared for launch, setting a mid-January 2025 launch date.[10] Payload encapsulation was completed on January 10, marking one of the final steps in the pre-launch sequence. On January 15, 2025, the Blue Ghost lander successfully launched from Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39A at 06:11:39 UTC (1:11:39 am EST, local time at the launch site) aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket.[11] The mission also included Hakuto-R Mission 2 as a co-manifested payload.[12]

Hardware

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Main article: Firefly Aerospace Blue Ghost

Blue Ghost has four landing legs, communications, heating and solar power systems, and features multiple layers of insulation. The Blue Ghost solar panels, from subcontractor SolAero By Rocket Lab, provide a maximum of 400 watts of power.[1] ASI by Rocket Lab provides flight, ground and GN&C software, trajectory design, orbit determination, and software testbed integration. Firefly asserts that in-house end-to-end manufacturing and testing of the Blue Ghost structure is a differentiator among the CLPS landers.[13][14]

Payloads

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Location of Mare Crisium highlighted in red

The mission is planned to land at Mare Crisium, a 500-kilometer-wide (310 mi) basin visible from Earth. The lander's scientific instruments will collect data on the properties of the Moon's regolith—its loose, fragmented rock and soil—as well as its geophysical characteristics and the interactions between the solar wind and Earth's magnetic field.[15] These findings will contribute to the preparation and planning of future human missions to the lunar surface.

The payloads, collectively expected to total 94 kilograms (207 lb) in mass, include:[15]

Regolith Adherence Characterization (RAC) payload
  • The Regolith Adherence Characterization (RAC) will determine how lunar regolith sticks to a range of materials exposed to the Moon's environment during landing and lander operations. Components will be derived from the MISSE-FF facility currently on the International Space Station (ISS).
  • The Next Generation Lunar Retroreflectors (NGLR) will serve as a target for lasers on Earth to precisely measure the distance between Earth and the Moon. The retroreflector that will fly on this mission will also provide data that could be used to understand various aspects of the lunar interior and address fundamental physics questions.
Lunar Environment Heliospheric X-ray Imager (LEXI) payload
  • The Lunar Environment Heliospheric X-ray Imager (LEXI), which will capture images of the interaction of Earth's magnetosphere with the flow of charged particles from the Sun, called the solar wind.
  • The Reconfigurable, Radiation Tolerant Computer System (RadPC) aims to demonstrate a radiation-tolerant computing technology. Due to the Moon's lack of atmosphere and magnetic field, radiation from the Sun will be a challenge for electronics. This investigation will also characterize the effects of radiation on the lunar surface.
  • The Lunar Magnetotelluric Sounder (LMS) is designed to characterize the structure and composition of the Moon's mantle by studying electric and magnetic fields. The investigation will make use of a flight-spare magnetometer. This device measures magnetic fields, originally made for the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) spacecraft currently orbiting Mars.
  • The Lunar Instrumentation for Subsurface Thermal Exploration with Rapidity (LISTER) is designed to measure heat flow from the interior of the Moon. The probe will attempt to drill 2.13 to 3.05 meters (7 to 10 ft) into the lunar regolith to investigate the Moon's thermal properties at different depths.
  • The Lunar PlanetVac (LPV) is designed to acquire lunar regolith from the surface and transfer it to other instruments that would analyze the material or put it in a container that another spacecraft could return to Earth.
  • Stereo CAmeras for Lunar Plume Surface Studies (SCALPSS 1.1) will capture video and still images of the area under the lander from when the engine plume first disturbs the lunar surface through engine shutdown. Long-focal-length cameras will determine the pre-landing surface topography. Photogrammetry will be used to reconstruct the changing surface during landing. Understanding the physics of rocket exhaust on the regolith and the displacement of dust, gravel, and rocks is critical to understanding how to avoid kicking up surface materials during the terminal phase of flight/landing on the Moon and other celestial bodies.
  • The Electrodynamic Dust Shield (EDS) will generate a non-uniform electric field using varying high voltage on multiple electrodes. This traveling field, in turn, carries away the particles and has potential applications in thermal radiators, spacesuit fabrics, visors, camera lenses, solar panels, and many other technologies.
  • The Lunar GNSS Receiver Experiment (LuGRE), which is based on GPS. LuGRE will continue to extend the reach of GPS signals and, if successful, be the first to discern GPS signals at lunar distances.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d e "Blue Ghost Component Graphic". Firefly Aerospace. January 14, 2025. Archived from the original on January 15, 2025.
  2. ^ Brett Tingley (January 7, 2025). "SpaceX launch of private Blue Ghost moon lander set for Jan. 15". Space.com. Retrieved January 9, 2025.
  3. ^ Foust, Jeff (May 20, 2021). "Firefly selects SpaceX to launch its lunar lander". SpaceNews. Retrieved May 22, 2021.
  4. ^ Firefly Aerospace [@firefly_space] (May 20, 2021). "Alpha rocket does not have the performance or payload volume needed to launch Blue Ghost – F9 does. Our future Beta launch vehicle will support Blue Ghost launch" (Tweet). Retrieved May 20, 2021 – via Twitter.
  5. ^ "Firefly Aerospace Completes Blue Ghost Lunar Lander Structure Ahead of Moon Landing for NASA". October 4, 2023.
  6. ^ Parsonson, Andrew (April 29, 2024). "Nammo UK Prepares to Deliver Engine for US Lunar Lander". European Spaceflight. Retrieved May 4, 2024.
  7. ^ "One step closer to launch and landing as our Firefly team installed Blue Ghost's main engine".
  8. ^ @Firefly_Space (July 30, 2024). "We're going to the Moon! As Blue Ghost gets ready to ship for final environmental testing, get a behind-the-scenes look of how we got here and the mission ahead. Stay tuned for more on Blue Ghost Mission 1 in the coming months ahead of the Q4 2024 launch" (Tweet). Retrieved October 2, 2024 – via Twitter.
  9. ^ Foust, Jeff (August 26, 2024). "Firefly Aerospace's lunar lander begins pre-launch environmental tests". SpaceNews. Retrieved August 27, 2024.
  10. ^ "Firefly Aerospace Blue Ghost Mission 1 to the Moon Readies for Launch". Firefly Aerospace. November 25, 2024. Retrieved November 30, 2024.
  11. ^ @Firefly_Space (January 7, 2025). "Buckle up! Our road trip to the Moon is set to launch at 1:11 a.m. EST on Wednesday, Jan. 15" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  12. ^ Schnautz, Risa (January 10, 2025). "Blue Ghost Mission 1: Live Updates". Firefly Aerospace. Retrieved January 14, 2025.
  13. ^ "Firefly Aerospace Completes Blue Ghost Lunar Lander Structure Ahead of Moon Landing for NASA". www.prnewswire.com (Press release). Retrieved May 13, 2024.
  14. ^ "Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost Lunar Lander is Assembled". October 16, 2023.
  15. ^ a b "NASA Selects Firefly Aerospace for Artemis Commercial Moon Delivery in 2023" (Press release). NASA. February 4, 2021. Archived from the original on February 4, 2021. Retrieved March 5, 2021. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
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