Firefly Aerospace Prepares for January 15th Lunar Mission with Blue Ghost Lander

The mission, part of NASA's CLPS initiative, aims to deliver scientific payloads to the Moon's Mare Crisium region to advance lunar exploration and research.

• Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost lander is scheduled to launch on January 15th at 1:11 AM EST aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from NASA's Kennedy Space Center.
• The lander will carry 10 NASA payloads designed to study the Moon's surface, including regolith analysis, solar cell testing, and neutron radiation characterization.
• The mission will target Mons Latreille, a volcanic feature within the Moon's Mare Crisium basin, and aims to operate on the lunar surface for 14 days after a 45-day journey.
• The Blue Ghost mission is part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program, which seeks to foster private-sector involvement in lunar exploration under the broader Artemis campaign.
• This marks Firefly's first lunar mission and follows mixed results from previous CLPS missions, including a partial success by Intuitive Machines in 2024.

3 Articles

The Verge Digital Trends