Firefly makes lunar touchdown
The shadow of Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost lander stretches across the lunar surface after reaching the moon March 2. Photo courtesy of Firefly Aerospace
Firefly Aerospace’s lunar lander, Blue Ghost, successfully landed on the moon’s surface at 2:34 a.m. Sunday, March 2. The Central Texas space firm is one of only two commercial companies to reach the lunar surface, and the only to have a fully successful landing.
Firefly is based in Cedar Park but has a large manufacturing and testing site in Briggs in northeastern Burnet County, referred to as Rocket Ranch. Sunday’s landing was the first of several planned missions to the moon for Firefly in its partnership with NASA, whose Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative aims to streamline regular travel and deliveries between Earth and the moon.
“Firefly is literally and figuratively over the Moon,” said Firefly CEO Jason Kim in a March 2 media release announcing the successful landing. “Our Blue Ghost lunar lander now has a permanent home on the lunar surface with 10 NASA payloads and a plaque with every Firefly employee’s name. This bold, unstoppable team has proven we’re well equipped to deliver reliable, affordable access to the Moon, and we won’t stop there. With annual lunar missions, Firefly is paving the way for a lasting lunar presence that will help unlock access to the rest of the solar system for our nation, our partners, and the world.”
Blue Ghost launched Jan. 15 from Cape Canaveral in Florida in a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and spent 45 days in transit, traveling 2.8 million miles before its March 2 landing.
“With the hardest part behind us, Firefly looks forward to completing more than 14 days of surface operations, again raising the bar for commercial cislunar capabilities,” said Shea Ferring, Firefly’s chief technology officer.
The lander and a suite of scientific instruments on board will gather valuable data throughout the duration of a full lunar day, the equivalent of 14 Earth days. On March 16, the lander will capture images of the lunar sunset and operate for several hours in the night before its power supply runs out and it shuts down.
While Intuitive Machines was the first commercial company to get a lander to the moon in February 2024, that mission was somewhat botched when the lander, Odysseus, reportedly damaged its landing gear and toppled over, compromising its ability to effectively gather data.
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the shadows in the craters though…?