Blue Ghost Successfully Lands on the Moon in Historic US Mission

The lunar lander Blue Ghost, developed by Firefly Aerospace, has successfully made its landing in the Mare Crisium region of the Moon. This milestone was achieved following its transport by a Falcon 9 rocket, operated by SpaceX, founded by Elon Musk.

This event marks the second commercial lunar landing by a United States company, occurring approximately one year after the historic landing of Intuitive Machines' Odysseus. The Blue Ghost, measuring two meters in height and three meters in width, landed upright in the Mare Crisium, a vast lunar plain with a diameter of around 500 kilometers. The successful landing was broadcast live by NASA and Firefly Aerospace, showcasing this significant achievement in space exploration.

The Blue Ghost is equipped with ten scientific instruments and is set to conduct lunar investigations over a period of two weeks. These instruments will enable the lander to drill into the lunar surface to collect samples and analyze the composition of the Moon's regolith. Additionally, the lander is expected to capture images of the sunset on the Moon, providing valuable data on how lunar soil reacts to the transition from sunlight to darkness.

Lunar landings are known for their technical challenges, as the craft must significantly reduce its speed without the aid of a dense atmosphere. Historically, nearly half of all lunar landing attempts have ended in failure. However, NASA has confirmed that Blue Ghost has landed successfully and as intended.

Blue Ghost launched alongside another lunar lander from the Japanese startup ispace, named Resilience. While Blue Ghost has already landed, Resilience will take a separate trajectory and is scheduled to reach the Moon in a few months.

The mission, titled "Ghost Riders in the Sky," represents Firefly Aerospace's inaugural lunar mission. The company, based in Texas, is primarily known for its development of launch vehicles. Both Blue Ghost and Odysseus are part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative, which aims to facilitate affordable and efficient lunar exploration through partnerships with private companies.

Nasa's CLPS program has a budget of approximately $2.6 billion allocated for lunar missions until 2028, aiming to gather knowledge that will aid in the agency's return to the Moon.

The data collected from the Blue Ghost mission will support NASA's Artemis program, which aims to land the first woman and the first person of color on the Moon. While the original target for this milestone was set for 2024, it has since been pushed back to 2027, with uncertainties surrounding the timeline due to changing political leadership.

The last human mission to the Moon, Apollo 17, occurred over 50 years ago, on December 11, 1972. Since then, the United States has been the only country to successfully land astronauts on the lunar surface through the Apollo program. In recent years, competition has intensified from countries like China, which has plans to send humans to the Moon by 2030, having already achieved successful unmanned landings.