On its landmark 100th launch from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket successfully transported two lunar landers into orbit early Wednesday morning. These vehicles, created by two separate organizations, are now on their way to the moon.
The two landers reflect different missions: the Blue Ghost lander, developed for NASA by Texas-based Firefly Aerospace, and the Resilience lander from Japanese private firm ispace. Approximately an hour post-launch, the Falcon 9 deployed both crafts, enabling them to commence their individual journeys towards the lunar surface.
SpaceX released videos of the deployments on X (formerly Twitter), the social media site owned by SpaceX founder Elon Musk. The footage captures the successful deployment of the landers into orbit.
### Firefly’s Blue Ghost Mission
The Blue Ghost lander, on its inaugural flight, was initially scheduled for a late 2024 launch. Now ahead of its timeline, the uncrewed craft is anticipated to take 45 days to reach the moon, targeting an arrival in early March. This mission signifies the first NASA **Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS)** mission of the year.
NASA’s CLPS initiative, having allocated $2.6 billion towards private partnerships, aims to send scientific equipment to the moon and obtain vital data. Blue Ghost is equipped with 10 experiments for NASA, contributing to the agency’s overarching aim of establishing a steady stream of lunar missions. These initiatives are part of NASA’s groundwork for future astronaut-led Artemis missions expected to commence in 2027 or thereafter.
### Ispace’s Resilience Lander
The second lunar lander, Resilience, is part of ispace’s new Hakuto-R mission. This represents the company’s second attempt at moon landing, following the failure of its first uncrewed lander in April 2023 due to running out of fuel.
This time, ispace plans a more fuel-conserving trajectory, with Resilience forecasted to reach the moon within four to five months. The mission, in collaboration with Japan’s space agency JAXA, includes a small rover intended for lunar soil collection for research purposes. The rover is comparable in size to a toddler’s Big Wheel tricycle.
### Challenges of Lunar Landings
Landing on the moon continues to be a significant challenge. The moon’s exosphere lacks atmospheric resistance to decelerate spacecraft, and the lack of GPS necessitates engineers to navigate landers from 239,000 miles away.
So far, only five nations — the former Soviet Union, the United States, China, India, and Japan — have accomplished moon landings without catastrophic failure. Among private companies, only Intuitive Machines has managed a lunar landing. Its vehicle touched down near the moon’s south pole in February 2024, albeit on its side, yet it still operated effectively.
### What’s Next for the Landers?
If all goes as planned, both the Blue Ghost and Resilience landers will spend about two weeks carrying out experiments on the lunar surface. However, their missions will conclude when the moon’s harsh night arrives, with temperatures plummeting to -270 degrees Fahrenheit. Such extreme conditions make it unfeasible for robotic systems to function.
These missions are crucial advancements in lunar exploration, as NASA and private enterprises strive to enhance scientific knowledge and lay the groundwork for future human missions to the moon.