Photo credit: www.yahoo.com
Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost Lander Achieves Lunar Orbit
In a significant advancement for lunar exploration, Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost lander successfully entered lunar orbit on February 13, 2025. This maneuver involved firing its engines for over four minutes, establishing a new elliptical trajectory around the moon.
To celebrate this achievement, the lander captured stunning visuals of the moon, some of which were compiled into a captivating 27-second time-lapse video shared by Firefly.
In its own words, Firefly Aerospace humorously stated via social media, “I love you to the moon, but not back — I’m staying there,” highlighting the excitement of this milestone.
Mission Objectives and Background
Launched on January 15 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, Blue Ghost is part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative. The primary mission, dubbed “Ghost Riders in the Sky,” includes carrying ten science and technology experiments aimed at enhancing humanity’s understanding of the lunar environment in preparation for future crewed missions, particularly under the Artemis program.
Upcoming Landing Attempt
If the mission proceeds as planned, Blue Ghost is set to remain in lunar orbit for the next 16 days. During this time, it will perform several additional engine burns to achieve a more circular orbit before attempting a landing in the Mare Crisium (“Sea of Crises”) on March 2.
A successful landing would mark a historic moment in commercial space exploration; to date, only one private entity—Houston’s Intuitive Machines—has managed a soft landing on the moon. This previous milestone was achieved by the spacecraft Odysseus, which touched down in February 2024 as part of a CLPS mission.
Additional Lunar Missions on the Horizon
In a parallel lunar endeavor, the Blue Ghost lander was launched alongside the Resilience lander, developed by Tokyo-based ispace. While Resilience is also targeting lunar orbit, its path is more extended and complicated, with an expected arrival in about three-and-a-half months. Unlike Blue Ghost, Resilience will not be carrying any NASA payloads.
Resilience is actually ispace’s second attempt at lunar exploration; their first lander reached lunar orbit in March 2023 but unfortunately crashed during the landing attempt due to navigation errors related to a crater’s rim.
Looking ahead, the lunar exploration landscape is set to become even busier, with Intuitive Machines planning to launch its next lunar lander, Athena, on February 26, with support from the CLPS program.
The excitement surrounding these missions reflects the burgeoning interest in lunar science and the potential for commercial participation in space exploration, paving the way for future human activity on the moon.
Source
www.yahoo.com