A new era in space travel "Blue Ghost" lands successfully on the moon
Lunar missions are considered to be technically highly demanding. A year ago, a US company managed a commercial landing for the first time. Now a second company has done it - with "Blue Ghost".
02.03.2025, 10:09
02.03.2025, 13:43
dpa
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- The US space probe "Blue Ghost" from Firefly Aerospace has landed in Mare Crisium on the moon, where it will collect scientific data for two weeks.
- The mission is part of NASA's program to collaborate with private companies to conduct cost-effective lunar research.
- The data obtained will support NASA's Artemis program, which is planning the next manned moon landing for 2027.
Around a year after the first commercial moon landing in space history, a second lunar module from a US company has touched down on the Earth's satellite. The "Blue Ghost", which is about two meters high and three meters wide, successfully landed in the so-called "Mare Crisium", a lowland with a diameter of about 500 kilometers, as was shown in the livestream of the US space agency NASA and the company Firefly Aerospace. The lander will now spend around two weeks examining the moon with ten scientific instruments.
Lunar landings are considered to be technically extremely challenging, partly because the speed of the lander has to be drastically reduced without the help of a dense atmosphere. Around half of all moon landings to date have ended in failure. According to NASA, "Blue Ghost" stands upright on the moon after landing as hoped.
It was only in February last year that the US company Intuitive Machines achieved the first commercial landing on the moon in the history of space travel with "Odysseus". This was the first time a US device had been on the moon for more than 50 years. However, the unmanned lander tipped over during touchdown. However, data could still be collected.
"Blue Ghost" launched together with the second lunar module
Blue Ghost was launched in January with the help of a Falco 9 rocket from tech billionaire Elon Musk's aerospace company SpaceX. It took off from the Cape Canaveral spaceport in the US state of Florida. The lunar lander "Resilience" from the Japanese start-up ispace was also on board the rocket. However, this lander is scheduled to fly to the moon on a different orbit and will not arrive there for several months.
"Blue Ghost" has numerous materials and instruments on board with which it will now investigate the moon. Among other things, it will drill into the surface to take samples. After around two weeks, i.e. a whole day on the moon, the sun will set at the landing site. "Blue Ghost" will take photos of this spectacle and provide data on how the loose rock on the moon reacts to the influence of the sun at dusk.
Nasa wants to gather knowledge cheaply
The mission called "Ghost Riders in the Sky" is the first lunar mission by Texas-based company Firefly Aerospace, which has primarily developed launch vehicles to date. Both "Blue Ghost" and "Odysseus", which landed last year, are part of NASA's CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) program.
With this program, the US space agency wants to gather as much knowledge as possible on its own way back to the moon comparatively cheaply and efficiently by awarding contracts for moon landings to private companies and working together with them. A total of around 2.6 billion dollars (around 2.4 billion euros) has been budgeted for the CLPS program until 2028.
Last year, two missions were already launched as part of the CLPS program. In January, the Pittsburgh-based company Astrobotic launched the "Peregrine" capsule. Shortly after the launch, however, there were problems due to a malfunction in the propulsion system. The goal of landing on the moon had to be abandoned. The company Intuitive Machines, which was partially successful with "Odysseus", sent off a second lander last week. "Athena" is scheduled to touch down on the Earth's satellite on Thursday at the earliest.
Data to support NASA's "Artemis" program
Nasa wants to use the information collected to advance its "Artemis" program. The program, named after the Greek goddess of the moon, aims to land a woman and a non-white person on the moon for the first time. This was originally scheduled for 2024, but the timetable has already been postponed several times. The current plan is 2027 - although it is not yet clear whether US President Donald Trump will stick to it.
The last time humans were on the moon was more than 50 years ago with the Apollo 17 mission. The landing took place on December 11, 1972, and the USA was the only country to have put twelve astronauts on the moon with the Apollo missions between 1969 and 1972. There is now competition from China, which wants to put people on the moon by 2030. China has already successfully landed on the moon unmanned, as have Russia, Japan and India in addition to the USA.
