Context:
On Sunday, March 3, 2024, Firefly Aerospace, a U.S. based company, successfully landed its Blue Ghost Mission 1 spacecraft on the moon. It made the second private mission to reach this goal. Unlike their first private mission in February, which crashed on its side, Blue Ghost made an upright landing. It is a huge technical achievement.
Details About the Landing
- Time
- The spacecraft landed at 3:34 AM Eastern Time (02:04 IST).
- Location
- The landing site was Mons Latreille, a volcanic formation located in Mare Crisium, a basin on the northeastern near side of the moon.
- Mission Control
- The team was gathered in Austin, Texas, where they celebrated after confirmation that everything is fine with the spacecraft. Firefly CEO Jason Kim and NASA’s Nicky Fox confirmed the lander was in healthy condition.
Technical Aspects of the Mission
- Autonomous Landing
- The spacecraft had to independently travel across the rocky, uneven terrain, slowing down from thousands of miles per hour to just 2 mph before touchdown.
- Size and Design
- Blue Ghost is golden and is about the size of a hippopotamus.
- Launch Date
- The lander was launched on January 15, 2024, with a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and travelled 2.8 million miles to arrive at the touchdown point.
- Launch
- Rideshare Mission: It was carrying a Japanese lunar lander, set on attempting its own moon land in May 2024.
Scientific Objectives and Payloads
- Blue Ghost carries 10 scientific instruments, like
- Lunar soil analyzer – Composition of the moon surface will be analyzed.
- Radiation tolerant computer – Testing of how well a computer system can function in space radiation.
- GPS like Navigation Experiment – To examine whether Earth’s global satellite navigation system is usable for positioning on the Moon.
Major Future Observations
- March 14, 2024 Blue Ghost will capture high definition imagery of a total eclipse, when the Earth blocks the Sun from the Moon’s horizon.
- As of March 16, 2024 The lander will record a lunar sunset, providing insights into how dust levitates above the moon’s surface due to solar radiation. This phenomenon was first observed by Apollo astronaut Eugene Cernan.
Mission Significance
- Part of NASA Artemis Programme
- The mission falls under NASA’s strategic plans to partner with private businesses aimed at cutting costs and aiding the future human exploration of the moon under the Artemis program.
- Increased Private Space Exploration
- Set to be the latest in growing trends of commercial missions to the moon, following other private and international efforts.
