Firefly Aerospace is gearing up to make history with the landing of Blue Ghost on the Moon’s surface. The lander is set to touch down on the near side of the Moon on Sunday at 2:34 a.m. CT. This mission is part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program, aimed at paving the way for future human exploration of the Moon.
A Long Journey to the Moon
Blue Ghost has been traveling through space for 44 days, covering a distance of 384,400 km. After spending 25 days orbiting Earth and another 16 days orbiting the Moon, it’s now ready to descend onto Mare Crisium, a basin formed by an asteroid impact.
Landing is no easy task. Unlike Earth, the Moon lacks a thick atmosphere to help slow the spacecraft down. Blue Ghost relies on advanced navigation systems to avoid craters and rocks, ensuring a safe landing at a speed of just 1 meter per second in the final 11 seconds.
What Will Blue Ghost Do?
Once it successfully lands, Blue Ghost will carry out its mission for 16 days. The lander is carrying 10 scientific instruments to measure heat flow from the Moon’s core, study its internal structure, and observe how solar wind and Earth’s magnetic field affect the Moon’s surface.
One of the most exciting experiments will test whether GPS can be used in lunar orbit and on the Moon’s surface. Additionally, Blue Ghost is equipped with a soil-sampling tool designed to collect Moon surface samples.
A Spectacular Space Show
During its mission, Blue Ghost will capture some rare celestial events. On March 14, the Moon will experience a total lunar eclipse, where Earth completely blocks sunlight for five hours. Two days later, the lander will witness a lunar sunset—a rare event since one lunar day lasts about 29.5 Earth days.
Blue Ghost will also record the mysterious “lunar horizon glow,” a strange light at the Moon’s horizon seen only by Apollo 15 and 17 astronauts. But this time, the event will be captured in stunning 4K video for the whole world to enjoy!
The Race to Explore the Moon
Blue Ghost isn’t the only one heading to the Moon right now. Two other landers are also on their way: Intuitive Machines’ Athena, set to land on March 6, and Japan’s ispace lander, Resilience, scheduled for an April landing.
With more missions launching, space exploration is becoming more exciting than ever. We may not yet see a dramatic human landing like Apollo 11, but sending a robot hundreds of thousands of kilometers through space and landing it safely on another world? That’s still incredibly cool!
If you want to witness this historic moment live, Firefly will stream Blue Ghost’s landing on their YouTube channel on Sunday at 2:20 a.m. ET. Don’t miss it!