In mid-January, US company Firefly Aerospace will send a spacecraft to the moon, hoping to repeat the success of one of its sister companies, which last year managed to land the first US spacecraft there in more than 50 years.
The mission, called "Ghost Riders in the Sky," is being carried out by that private company on behalf of the US space agency NASA.
It is due to lift off on January 15 at 1:11 a.m. local time from the Kennedy Space Center on the US East Coast, NASA and Firefly Aerospace of Texas announced, as quoted by AFP.
Its purpose is to deposit "10 NASA science instruments" on the lunar surface to "deepen our knowledge of the Moon and prepare for future human missions," the release added.
Several years ago, the US space agency decided to task private companies, including Firefly Aerospace, with sending equipment and technology to the moon, a program called CLPS designed to reduce the cost of missions.
Called Blue Ghost, the spacecraft developed by the Texas company will be sent into space on a Falcon 9 rocket by billionaire Elon Musk's company, SpaceX.
After launch, the 2 m high and 3.5 m wide vehicle will spend about 45 days in transit to the Moon. During this journey, the company says, various checks will be carried out on the spacecraft.
The spacecraft will then attempt to land on the lunar surface. It will stay there for about 14 days to conduct experiments.
It will also capture "images of the lunar sunset," Firefly Aerospace reports.
In 2021, the company was awarded a $93 million contract to carry out this mission.
This is the third mission under NASA's CLPS program. The first failed to reach the moon, and the second succeeded in February 2024.
However, due to a failure in its navigation system, it approached the lunar surface too quickly during its descent and broke at least one of its six legs. | BGNES
