A private lunar lander carrying a drill, vacuum and other experiments for NASA touched down on the moon Sunday, the latest in a string of companies looking to kickstart business on Earth\u2019s celestial neighbour ahead of astronaut missions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Firefly Aerospace\u2019s Blue Ghost lander descended from lunar orbit on autopilot, aiming for the slopes of an ancient volcanic dome in an impact basin on the moon\u2019s northeastern edge of the near side.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Confirmation of touchdown came from the company\u2019s Mission Control outside Austin, Texas, following the action some 225,000 miles (360,000 kilometers) away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\u2019re on the moon,\u201d Mission Control reported, adding the lander was \u201cstable.\u201d
A smooth, upright landing makes Firefly \u2014 a startup founded a decade ago \u2014 the first private outfit to put a spacecraft on the moon without crashing or falling over. Even countries have faltered, with only five claiming success: Russia, the US, China, India and Japan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Two other companies\u2019 landers are hot on Blue Ghost\u2019s heels, with the next one expected to join it on the moon later this week. Launched in mid-January from Florida, the 6-foot-6 (2 meters) tall lander carried 10 experiments to the moon for NASA. The space agency paid $101 million for the delivery, plus $44 million for the science and tech on board. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s the third mission under NASA\u2019s commercial lunar delivery program, intended to ignite a lunar economy of competing private businesses while scouting around before astronauts show up later this decade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The demos should get two weeks of run time, before lunar daytime ends and the lander shuts down. It carried a vacuum to suck up moon dirt for analysis and a drill to measure temperature as deep as 10 feet (3 meters) below the surface. Also on board: a device for eliminating abrasive lunar dust \u2014 a scourge for NASA\u2019s long-ago Apollo moonwalkers, who got it caked all over their spacesuits and equipment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On its way to the moon, Blue Ghost beamed back exquisite pictures of the home planet. The lander continued to stun once in orbit around the moon, with detailed shots of the moon\u2019s gray pockmarked surface. At the same time, an on-board receiver tracked and acquired signals from the US. GPS and European Galileo constellations, an encouraging step forward in navigation for future explorers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The landing set the stage for a fresh crush of visitors angling for a piece of lunar business.
Another lander \u2014 a tall and skinny 15-footer (4 meters tall) built and operated by Houston-based Intuitive Machines \u2014 is due to land on the moon Thursday. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s aiming for the bottom of the moon, just 100 miles (160 kilometers) from the south pole. That\u2019s closer to the pole than the company got last year with its first lander, which broke a leg and tipped over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite the tumble, Intuitive Machines\u2019 lander put the US back on the moon for the first time since NASA astronauts closed out the Apollo program in 1972.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A third lander from the Japanese company ispace is still three months from landing. It shared a rocket ride with Blue Ghost from Cape Canaveral on Jan. 15, taking a longer, windier route. Like Intuitive Machines, ispace is also attempting to land on the moon for the second time. Its first lander crashed in 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The moon is littered with wreckage not only from ispace, but dozens of other failed attempts over the decades. NASA wants to keep up a pace of two private lunar landers a year, realizing some missions will fail, said the space agency\u2019s top science officer Nicky Fox.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Unlike NASA\u2019s successful Apollo moon landings that had billions of dollars behind them and ace astronauts at the helm, private companies operate on a limited budget with robotic craft that must land on their own, said Firefly CEO Jason Kim. \u201cEvery time we go up, we\u2019re learning from each other,\u201d Kim said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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