Space is still a great mystery to be revealed, but we also continue to investigate those cosmic elements that are “closest” to us. Now, fifty years after that step on the lunar surface, the United States has just made another impact in the race to conquer the Moon, and that is, the company Firefly Aerospace has managed to land on the Moon with a completely private mission. Although its spacecraft did not carry a human crew, it has set a very important precedent for the future of star travel.
What do we know about this lunar mission?
Mainly, that the landing of the Blue Ghost module (that is the name of the Firefly Aerospace spacecraft) took place successfully near an ancient volcanic vent in Mare Crisium, a large crater located on the visible side of the Moon. “We are on the Moon,” announced the mission control centre, confirming that the ship had touched down in a stable manner. It all seems like something out of a movie, but trips to the moon are more real than ever.
Closer to Artemis
NASA and this private company have worked together to reduce the costs of the trip and thus speed up the process. If you’re wondering what the process is, it’s clear: humans will be back on the Moon. NASA’s Janet Prieto celebrated the lunar landing in a very forceful way: “We’re going to put America first, we’re going to make America proud, we’re doing this for American citizens,” said NASA’s interim director.
So, this mission is the pretext for the world to be glued to their screens again while humans get off their space capsule to leave their mark forever on the Moon.
In addition, NASA is clear: to link this milestone to the Artemis Program and make the Moon a solid base.
What is the Artemis Program?
The program that in a few years will make the first racialized person and the first woman also set foot on the Moon. Unlike Apollo, this program aims to build a lunar base that can serve as a springboard for future trips to Mars.
And the Artemisa program does not work alone, but is a conjunction of several international space programs: ESA (Europe), JAXA (Japan) and the CSA (Canada), together with private companies such as the protagonist of this article.
What do we know about Blue Ghost?
Blue Ghost took off from Florida in January carrying 10 NASA experiments designed to study the lunar environment. The US space agency paid $101 million for the delivery, with another $44 million earmarked for scientific experiments.
The lander, the size of a compact car, has:
- A lunar regolith suction system, which will analyse the composition of lunar soil.
- A drill capable of measuring temperatures at 3 metres depth.
- High-definition cameras to capture the total eclipse on 14 March.
- Instruments to record the lunar sunset on 16 March, providing data on the solar influence on floating dust on the Moon.
How long will the mission last?
It will be approximately two weeks of hard work for this craft and that will be how long its battery lasts before the lunar day ends. It is also expected to capture images of the total eclipse that will take place on March 14, when the Earth blocks the sun from the horizon of the moon, and then, on March 16, it will capture a lunar sunset. A true wonder for those of us who love the world of astronomy!
Have there already been private companies on the Moon?
Although Blue Ghost is a milestone, it is not the first private company to achieve it. In 2023, Intuitive Machines was the first private company to land a commercial spacecraft on the Moon, but its Odysseus module did not have a perfect landing because it lost one of its legs.
The Americans have not been the only ones to set foot on the Moon, as the Soviet Union, China, India and Japan also achieved this feat.
When talking about private companies on the Moon, it seems as if the Moon from now on will be like a paid parking lot, but no! The union of private companies to the astronomical sector only makes the costs for government agencies lower and technological development much greater. Who knows how many chapters we still have to discover about our satellite?