Firefly says it is the first private company to do a “fully successful” soft landing on the moon.
Firefly Aerospace, a US-based private space company, has landed the blue ghost spacecraft on the moon for a two-week research mission amid a competition between a small number of private companies.
The touchdown took place Sunday at 3:35am, US East Coast Time (08:35 GMT) in the Heibara region, a prominent lunar basin visible to Earth.
Firefly declares to be the first person to do “all-successful” soft landings and will become the second private company to achieve a lunar landing.
The Houston-based intuitive machine had a hard landing last year with the Odysseus Lunar Lander.
Firefly Mission is part of NASA’s commercial Lunar Payload Services program, seeking to leverage private industry to help institutions return to the month. Blue Ghost carried ten scientific and technical payloads, including NASA equipment designed to study moon dust, radiation and surface materials.
The main equipment onboard the ship measures the lunar internal heat flow, prevents lunar dust accumulation into the equipment, and includes a RetroReflector for laser range experiments.
The spacecraft was boarded a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on January 15th.
Firefly will follow up with two additional Blue Ghost missions in 2026 and 2028. Both are expected to provide a more scientific payload and support NASA’s long-term monthly goals.
NASA administrator Janet Petro said at the Firefly landing event on Sunday that the moon is part of the US goal of “dominating” the space.
This success underscores the growing role of private companies in space exploration as NASA and other institutions increasingly rely on commercial partners to achieve scientific and technological breakthroughs.
Many other countries have also advanced their own lunar efforts, including China, and plans to place Chinese astronauts on the surface of the moon by 2030, including its robotics Zhang-e program.
Source link
