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Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost lunar lander is en route to the moon.
The Blue Ghost lander achieved its initial primary engine burn on its journey to the lunar surface, which is projected to last a total of 45 days. The lander will orbit Earth for another 21 days prior to commencing a four-day voyage to attain lunar orbit. Once it arrives, it will spend 16 days circling the moon before attempting to descend for a landing on the lunar surface, contingent on the success of the mission.
On Tuesday (Jan. 20), NASA disseminated an update concerning one of the 10 scientific payloads being transported to the moon on Blue Ghost, indicating that the experiment successfully received a signal while 205,674 miles (331,000 kilometers) away from Earth’s surface. The update was accompanied by a timelapse video displaying Earth eclipsing the sun from the perspective of the lander during its journey toward the moon.
The device about which NASA provided an update, referred to as the Lunar GNSS Receiver Experiment (LuGRE), is intended to demonstrate and evaluate satellite-based positioning, navigation, and timing systems in proximity to and on the moon. GPS satellites are an example of GNSS technology, along with the European Union’s Galileo navigation satellites.
LuGRE was capable of acquiring signals from both GPS and Galileo constellations while at 90% of the distance to the moon, establishing a “signal distance record” between Earth and the moon, as per NASA’s statement.
Alongside the successful testing of LuGRE, NASA and Firefly Aerospace assert that Blue Ghost remains in good health as it gears up for lunar orbit in the upcoming month.
In an update shared on X, Firefly Aerospace reported that the lander performed its first burn with high accuracy, setting the spacecraft up for its forthcoming translunar injection burn that will position it on a trajectory toward the moon.
Blue Ghost lifted off on Jan. 15 atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, carrying not just one but two lunar landers; ispace’s Resilience lander accompanied it on this mission.
Upon reaching the lunar surface, Blue Ghost — Firefly’s inaugural moon lander — will deploy or conduct operations for 10 NASA science experiments. It is engineered to function for approximately two Earth weeks, or one lunar day, before the sun sets and gradually exhausts the lander’s power supply.
As twilight approaches on the moon, the lander is set to capture images of the lunar sunset and assess how lunar regolith (moon dust) responds to the onset of dusk and sunset.
Blue Ghost will continue operations for a few hours into the night before its batteries are depleted.
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