After about a month in transit to the Moon, Firefly’s Blue Ghost lunar lander successfully completed a four-minute lunar orbit insertion burn Thursday – the longest and most challenging burn conducted to date by the lander’s main engine and reaction control system thrusters.
Now that the lander is in lunar trajectory, over the next 16 days, additional maneuvers will take the lander from an elliptical orbit to a circular orbit around the Moon. Blue Ghost Mission 1 is targeted to land Sunday, March 2, at 3:45 a.m. EST. During the lunar orbit insertion burn, Blue Ghost captured a picture of the Moon’s South Pole.
Blue Ghost captured a bright image of the Moon’s South Pole on the far left through its cameras on the top deck, as it travels to the Moon as part of NASA’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative and Artemis a campaign. Credit: Firefly Aerospace
After a successful Trans Lunar Injection burn on Saturday, Feb. 8, Firefly’s spacecraft carrying NASA science and tech to the Moon has departed Earth’s orbit and begun its four-day transit to the Moon’s orbit. Blue Ghost will then spend approximately 16 days in lunar orbit before beginning its descent operations. Since launching more than three weeks ago, Blue Ghost has performed dozens of health tests generating 13 gigabytes of data. All 10 NASA payloads onboard are currently healthy and ready for surface operations on the Moon.
NASA’s Radiation Tolerant Computer (RadPC), developed by Montana State University, successfully operated while passing through the Earth’s Van Allen radiation belts, providing insight on how to mitigate the effects of radiation on computers. This helps improve our understanding of the radiation environment that future astronauts may experience on Artemis missions.
During an on-orbit health check, NASA’s Lunar Magnetotelluric Sounder (LMS), developed by the Southwest Research Institute, accurately detected a change in magnetic fields. This is a positive sign that LMS will be able to measure the Moon’s magnetic and electrical fields, shedding light on the Moon’s interior temperature and composition on the lunar surface.
Firefly’s Blue Ghost lunar lander captured an Earth selfie that looks down the side of the lander and shows the top of Blue Ghost’s thrusters with Lunar Magnetotelluric Sounder (LMS) probes on both sides. Credit: Firefly Aerospace
Also during a health check, Firefly and NASA teams captured data and an interior image of the sample container a from NASA’s Lunar PlanetVac (LPV), indicating the payload is operational in advance of surface operations on the Moon. The LPV payload is a technology demonstration that is designed to efficiently collect and transfer lunar soil from the surface to other science instruments or sample return containers without reliance on gravity.
Interior image of the empty sample container in advance of surface operations captured by the LunarPlanet Vac payload, developed by Honeybee Robotics, a Blue Origin company, attached to the underside of Firefly’s Blue Ghost lander. Credit: Honeybee Robotics
Follow along on NASA’s Artemis Blog as Blue Ghost Mission 1, carrying the agency’s science and technology, continues its journey to the Moon. Additional mission updates can also be found on Firefly’s Blue Ghost Mission 1 page.
Firefly’s Blue Ghost Mission 1 reached day 15 of its 45-day transit to the Moon. The Stereo Cameras for Lunar Plume-Surface Studies (SCALPSS) 1.1 instrument, designed by researchers at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, to capture images during the spacecraft’s lunar descent and touchdown, successfully received high-resolution test images from all six of its cameras.
Four cameras have a short focal length and aim to capture images of the interaction between Blue Ghost’s rocket plumes and foot pads with the Moon’s surface. Two of the cameras have a long focal length and aim to capture images of the surface before the rocket plume interaction. These images will help the SCALPSS team observe the effects before and after landing. Some images were captured during the cameras’ test run.
This image from the short focal length camera, shows a can-like structure which is Blue Ghost’s main engine. The bright objects to the engine’s right and to the left are the lander’s foot pads. The pointed object at the top left is another NASA payload, the Lunar Instrumentation for Subsurface Thermal Exploration with Rapidity (LISTER) instrument, led by Honeybee Robotics, a Blue Origin company, headquartered in Longmont, Colorado. LISTER is designed to measure the heat flow from the interior of the Moon. Credit: NASA
As trips to the Moon increase and the number of science and tech instruments touching down in proximity to one another grows, researchers need to accurately predict the effects of landings. These test images demonstrate that the hardware is functioning well and is capable of collecting images of plume-surface interactions upon lunar touchdown.
A second short focal length camera captured LISTER from a different angle. The small white circle just above the word Honeybee, and the one to the left of it, are markers the Honeybee Robotics team placed on LISTER to tell if their cameras moved during launch. Credit: NASA
Follow along on NASA’s Artemis Blog as Blue Ghost Mission 1, carrying the agency’s science and technology, continues its journey to the Moon. Additional mission updates can also be found on Firefly’s Blue Ghost Mission 1 page.
An image taken from the top deck of Firefly Aerospace’s lunar lander of the Moon in the distance. Credit: Firefly Aerospace
NASA’s science and technology instruments aboard Firefly’s Blue Ghost Mission 1 are a step closer to the Moon. After almost two weeks in Earth orbit, Firefly announced Thursday that Blue Ghost successfully completed its second engine burn, placing the lander in the correct position to leave Earth’s orbit and continue its journey to the Moon. At the same time, the spacecraft got its first glimpse of the Moon from Earth’s orbit.
NASA’s Artemis blogwill continue to provide updates on this lunar delivery. Additional mission updates can also be found on Firefly’s Blue Ghost Mission 1 page.
Firefly’s Blue Ghost continues its journey to the Moon carrying 10 NASA science and technology instruments. Four days into the mission, the lunar lander completed its first main engine burn. This milestone is the first of several maneuvers that will position the lander in a trajectory towards the Moon. After 25 days orbiting Earth, Blue Ghost will continue its four-day journey to lunar orbit and orbit the Moon for 16 days before it begins descent operations to the lunar surface as part of NASA’s Artemis campaign.
Jointly developed by NASA and the Italian Space Agency, the Lunar GNSS Receiver Experiment (LuGRE) technology demonstration acquired Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) signals, and calculated a navigation fix at nearly 52 Earth radii: more than 205,674 miles (331,000 kilometers) from Earth’s surface. This achievement suggests that Earth-based GNSS constellations can be used for navigation at nearly 90% of the distance to the Moon, an Earth-Moon signal distance record. It also demonstrates the power of using multiple GNSS constellations together, such as GPS and Galileo, to perform navigation. Throughout its journey, LuGRE will continue expanding our knowledge of Earth-based navigation systems in space as it acquires and tracks signals on its way to the Moon, during lunar orbit, and for up to two weeks on the lunar surface.
During this Earth transit phase, the Firefly mission team has continued to ensure the spacecraft remains healthy. The most recent visuals from space include footage of Earth eclipsing the Sun.
As the 45–day transit to the Moon continues, follow NASA’sArtemis blog for agency science and tech updates aboard Blue Ghost Mission 1, and Firefly’s Blue Ghost Mission 1 page for additional operational updates.
On Jan. 15, Firefly Aerospace successfully launched 10 NASA science and technology instruments on the company’s first CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) delivery. The NASA instrument teams are performing initial health checks and collecting data ahead of the lunar landing in early March. Flight controllers for Blue Ghost Mission 1 said Wednesday that the company’s spacecraft continues to meet mission milestones including acquisition of signal, and maintaining communications through its Mission Operations Center in Cedar Park, Texas.
The first image from space of Firefly’s Blue Ghost mission 1 lunar lander as it begins its 45-day transit period to the Moon. The top deck of the lander is visible here with the X-band antenna and NASA’s Lunar Environment heliospheric X-ray Imager (LEXI) payload. Credit: Firefly Aerospace
Stay tuned to NASA’s Artemis blog for agency science and tech aboard Blue Ghost Mission 1 updates, as well as Firefly’s Blue Ghost Mission 1 page for additional operational updates.
NASA, SpaceX, and Firefly Aerospace are targeting 1:11 a.m. EST Wednesday, Jan. 15, for the launch of Firefly’s Blue Ghost Mission 1, the next delivery to the Moon through NASA’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative.
The Blue Ghost lander will launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The flight will deliver 10 NASA science instruments and technology demonstrations to the lunar surface, to further our understanding of the Moon and help prepare for future human missions.
As part of the agency’s Artemis campaign, NASA is working with multiple U.S. companies to deliver science and technology to the Moon for the benefit of humanity.
Odysseus’ landing captured a leg, as it performed its primary task, absorbing first contact with the lunar surface. With the lander’s liquid methane and liquid oxygen engine still throttling, it provided stability. Credit: Intuitive Machines
NASA and Intuitive Machines co-hosted a news conference on Feb. 28 to provide a status update on the six NASA instruments that collected data on the IM-1 mission.
Mission challenges and successes were discussed during the briefing including more than 350 megabits of science data downloaded ready for analysis. During transit, all powered NASA payloads operated and received data. During descent and landing, guidance and navigation data was collected that will help improve landing precision in the future, and all three payloads that were designed to operate on the surface have received data.
The first images from the lunar surface are now available and showcase the orientation of the lander along with a view of the South Pole region on the Moon. Intuitive Machines believes the two actions captured in one of their images enabled Odysseus to gently lean into the lunar surface, preserving the ability to return scientific data. After successfully transmitting the image to Earth, there is additional insight into Odysseus’ position on the lunar surface.
On Feb. 22, NASA science instruments and technology on board Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C lander, called Odysseus, landed on the Moon’s South Pole region, marking the United States’ first return since Apollo 17. This was also the first landing as part of the agency’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative — transmitting valuable science data of each NASA payload from the lunar surface.
Additional updates can be found by watching the news conference here.
Taken on Tuesday, Feb. 27, Odysseus captured an image using its narrow-field-of-view camera. Credit: Intuitive Machines
Carrying NASA science and technology to the Moon, Intuitive Machines’ uncrewed lunar lander touched down at 5:23 p.m. CST on Thursday. The instruments aboard Odysseus will prepare NASA for future human exploration of the Moon under Artemis. Additional updates will be available Friday, Feb. 23.
After a successful lunar orbit insertion, Odysseus is currently orbiting the Moon, approximately 12 miles above the lunar surface. Carrying six NASA science investigations and technology demonstrations, the Intuitive Machines lander is expected to land at 6:24 p.m. EST near Malapert A in the south polar region of the Moon. Watch now on NASA+, NASA TV, and the agency’s website.
Over the last seven days as the mission has travelled from the Earth to the Moon, all powered NASA science instruments have completed their transit checkouts, collected data, and are operating as expected. Flight controllers will continue to analyze the data collected and monitor the payloads to inform preparations for landing.
The remaining lunar descent milestones include the following. All times are approximate:
