94Ha Viewpoint
(94ha.com) Firefly, a U.S. aerospace startup, successfully sent its unmanned probe Blue Ghost to the moon for the first time on Sunday. The mission aims to further explore the lunar environment and prepare for future human lunar landings.
According to the company’s official website, Blue Ghost landed successfully at 3:34 a.m. Eastern Time on Sunday (March 2) (16:34 Singapore time) in the Mare Crisium basin northeast of the moon’s front. Subsequently, Blue Ghost sent back the first lunar image after landing.
Blue Ghost is the size of a small car and carries 10 scientific instruments from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). After landing, the probe will use three solar panels to power its research equipment to complete scientific tasks such as underground drilling, regolith sampling and radiation resistance testing within 14 days. These research data will help scientists further understand the lunar environment, as well as the potential impact of space weather and cosmic forces on the earth, and provide reference for future human lunar missions.
Firefly said it was the first commercial company to achieve a “completely successful lunar landing” and saw the mission as an important milestone in commercial space exploration. Project manager Ray Allensworth emphasized the accuracy of the landing, noting that its landing point was less than 100 meters from the target. “We did make two avoidance moves during the descent, which shows that our software really played its due role,” he said.
Last February, another private American company launched a lunar lander, Odysseus, which landed on the moon, but flipped over when it landed on the lunar surface, and the mission ended early.
In addition, the probe Tenacity of iispace, a Japanese lunar exploration startup, also launched from Florida on January 15 on the same rocket as Blue Ghost; Tenacity is expected to fly for a while before landing at another location on the moon.
Firefly is one of the contractors for NASA’s Lunar Commercial Launch Services program. The program aims to deliver scientific experimental equipment and cargo to the lunar surface, laying the foundation for the US Artemis lunar landing program.
