Fireflys Blue Ghost lunar lander to study space weather, pesky moon dust using NASA science

NASA is gearing up to fly more science to the surface of the Moon with its next commercial mission on a Firefly Aerospace lunar lander.Firefly Aerospace is among NASA’s selected U.S.companies for its Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program.

Under this program, the space agency sends its payloads to the Moon via private robotic missions to prepare for the next human Moon landing in 2027.Firefly has named its first CLPS mission Ghost Riders in the Sky.The lander Blue Ghost was shipped from Firefly Aerospace’s headquarters outside of Austin, Texas, to Kennedy Space Center in Florida this week, where it awaits liftoff.

Firefly Aerospace and its launch provider, SpaceX, are targeting a six-day launch window that opens in mid-January.Unlike the previous two CLPS missions from Intuitive Machines and Astrobotic, Firefly is only flying NASA payloads instead of also offering space to commercial and marketing companies.All 10 payloads are for the U.S.

space agency.After launch and 45 days of spaceflight, Blue Ghost will attempt to land on the far side of the Moon near a volcanic feature called Mons Latreille within Mare Crisium.The region was the site of three Soviet-era robotic Moon landings in the 1970s.NASA Program Scientist Ryan Watkins said the landing site was chosen because of the data the agency hopes to collect about the Moon and future landings there.

The payloads flying on Blue Ghost 1 include instruments to study the Moon’s dust, its geophysical characteristics and the interaction of space weather.“This particular landing site was chosen because it avoids large magnetic anomalies on the lunar surface that could disrupt some of our payloads measurements.It’s also believed to have limited rocks in abundance, which will allow for safe operations with our onboard drill,” Watkins said.

“In addition, this volcanic feature will serve as a good landmark for our terrain relative navigation capabilities onboard the spacecraft, and also payloads o...