Moon to Mars – Artemis

Blue Ghost Prepares for Landing, NASA Instrument Breaks Record

Firefly’s Blue Ghost Mission 1 is nearly one week away from its Moon landing on Sunday, March 2, after launching on Jan.15. In preparation for landing, Blue Ghost will complete its final lunar orbit maneuver scheduled for Monday, Feb. 24. This maneuver will insert Blue Ghost into a near-circular low lunar orbit, bringing the lander closer to the lunar surface. Then about one hour before touchdown, Blue Ghost will complete its Descent Orbit Insertion burn, which will initiate the lander’s descent trajectory toward its landing site, Mare Crisium, on the near side of the Moon.

Live coverage of the landing, jointly hosted by NASA and Firefly, will air on NASA+ starting at 2:30 a.m. EST, approximately 75 minutes before Blue Ghost touches down on the Moon’s surface. Learn how to watch NASA content through a variety of platforms, including social media. The broadcast will also stream on Firefly’s YouTube channel. Coverage will include live streaming and blog updates as the descent milestones occur.

All 10 NASA instruments on this flight are currently healthy and ready to operate on the lunar surface. The payloads that are able to power on and operate have also collected some noteworthy data during lunar transit. Two highlights include:

The Lunar GNSS Receiver Experiment (LuGRE) acquired and tracked Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) signals for the first time in lunar orbit – a new record! This achievement, peaking at 246,000 miles, suggests that Earth-based GNSS constellations can be used for navigation in transit to, around, and potentially on the Moon. It also demonstrates the power of using multiple GNSS constellations together, such as GPS and Galileo, to perform navigation. After lunar landing, LuGRE will operate for 14 days and attempt to break another record – first reception of GNSS signals on the lunar surface.

The Lunar Environment Heliospheric X-ray Imager, or LEXI, telescope was turned on successfully shortly after launch on Jan. 15. The instrument has operated for several hours every day conducting checkouts and initial commissioning, operating for a total of more than 50 hours so far in preparation for collecting images from the lunar surface.

Follow along on NASA’s Artemis Blog as Blue Ghost Mission 1 continues its journey to the Moon. Additional mission updates can also be found on Firefly’s Blue Ghost Mission 1 page.

Blue Ghost Remains on Track, Lunar Orbit Insertion Burn Complete

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.

A bright Moon in the darkness of space with the Moon’s South Pole visible on the far left. — 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

NASA instrument and Firefly mission updates will continue to be shared here on NASA’s Artemis Blog and Firefly’s Blue Ghost Mission 1 page.

More NASA Science Received During Earth Orbit, Firefly Begins Lunar Transit Phase

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.

A lunar lander in the center of the image is on its way to the Moon with a bright Earth behind it in the darkness of space. — 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.

NASA Tech Instrument Captures Test Images During Blue Ghost Lunar Transit

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

Firefly Gets First Glimpse of Moon, NASA Instrument Checkouts Continue

An image from the top deck of Firefly's Blue Ghost lunar lander in the darkness of space with the lit Moon in the distance. — 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.

Routine assessments while Blue Ghost is in transit show that all NASA payloads continue to be healthy. Firefly and NASA’s payload teams will continue to perform payload health checkouts and operations before reaching the Moon, including calibrating NASA’s Lunar Environment Heliospheric X-ray Imager (LEXI), continued transit operations of the Lunar GNSS Receiver Experiment (LuGRE), and analysis of radiation data collected from the Radiation Tolerant Computer (RadPC) technology demonstration.

NASA’s Artemis blog will continue to provide updates on this lunar delivery. Additional mission updates can also be found on Firefly’s Blue Ghost Mission 1 page.

Blue Ghost Conducts First Burn, Science Operations, Captures Eclipse

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’s Artemis blog for agency science and tech updates aboard Blue Ghost Mission 1, and Firefly’s Blue Ghost Mission 1 page for additional operational updates.

NASA Science, Tech Launching to Moon in Mid-January

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.

For more information, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/clps

Artemis II Orion Crew and Service Modules Joined Together

Mating of the crew and service modules for the Artemis II Orion spacecraft was recently completed at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. — Intergration of the crew and service modules for the Artemis II Orion spacecraft was recently completed at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Photo credit: NASA

On Oct. 19, the Orion crew and service modules for the Artemis II mission were joined together inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

After successfully completing hardware installations and testing over the past several months, engineers connected the two major components of Orion that will fly NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, along with CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen on a mission around the Moon and bring them home safely.

Now that the crew and service modules are integrated, the team will power up the combined crew and service module for the first time. After power on tests are complete, Orion will begin altitude chamber testing, which will put the spacecraft through conditions as close as possible to the environment it will experience in the vacuum of deep space.

All Engines Added to NASA’s Artemis II Moon Rocket Core Stage

Engineers and technicians from NASA, Aerojet Rocketdyne, and Boeing at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans have installed all four RS-25 engines to the core stage for NASA’s Space Launch System rocket that will help power the first crewed Artemis mission to the Moon. The yellow core stage is seen in a horizontal position in the final assembly area at Michoud. The engines are arranged at the bottom of the rocket stage in a square pattern, like legs on a table. Photo Credit: NASA/Eric Bordelon

Teams at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans have structurally joined all four RS-25 engines onto the core stage for NASA’s Artemis II Moon rocket. The flight test is the agency’s first crewed mission under Artemis.

Technicians added the first engine to NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket core stage Sept. 11. Teams installed the second engine onto the stage Sept. 15 with the third and fourth engines Sept. 19 and Sept. 20. Technicians with NASA, Aerojet Rocketdyne, an L3Harris Technologies company and the RS-25 engines lead contractor, along with Boeing, the core stage lead contractor, now will focus efforts on the complex task of fully securing the engines to the stage and integrating the propulsion and electrical systems within the structure.

The SLS core stage, at 212 feet, is the backbone of the Moon rocket. Its two huge propellant tanks provide more than 733,000 gallons of super-chilled liquid propellant to the four RS-25 engines, while the stage’s flight computers, avionics, and electrical systems act as the “brains” of the rocket. During Artemis II, the RS-25 engines will together provide more than 2 million pounds of thrust for eight minutes of flight, helping to send the Artemis II crew beyond low-Earth orbit to venture around the Moon.

NASA is working to land the first woman and first person of color on the Moon under Artemis. SLS is part of NASA’s backbone for deep space exploration, along with Orion and the Gateway in orbit around the Moon, and commercial human landing systems. SLS is the only rocket that can send Orion, astronauts, and supplies to the Moon in a single mission.

For more on NASA SLS visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/sls

Artemis II Orion Crew Module Acoustic Testing Complete

Artemis II crew members, shown inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, check out their Orion crew module on Aug. 8, 2023. From left are: Victor Glover, pilot; Reid Wiseman, commander; Christina Hammock Koch, mission specialist; and Jeremy Hansen, mission specialist. The crew module is undergoing acoustic testing ahead of integration with the European Service Module. Artemis II is the first crewed mission on NASA’s path to establishing a long-term lunar presence for science and exploration under Artemis. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

On Aug. 13, engineers and technicians inside the high bay of the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida successfully completed a series of acoustic tests to ensure the Orion spacecraft for NASA’s Artemis II mission can withstand the speed and vibration it will experience during launch and throughout the 10-day mission around the Moon, the first Artemis mission with astronauts.

During the testing, engineers surrounded the crew module with large stacks of speakers, and attached microphones, accelerometers, and other equipment to measure the effects of different acoustic levels. Engineers and technicians will now analyze the data collected during the tests.

Prior to testing, the four Artemis II astronauts visited the high bay and viewed their ride to the Moon. With this test complete, technicians at Kennedy are on track to integrate Orion’s crew and service modules this fall.