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SpaceX’s Blue Ghost Moon mission aims to revolutionize lunar exploration and offer Earth valuable lessons from space. On January 15 at 1:11 a.m. Eastern Time, SpaceX launched its Falcon 9 rocket with Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost lander. The launch took place from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The mission is part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative and its broader Artemis campaign, which aims to expand lunar exploration.
The Blue Ghost lander is equipped with a variety of NASA science instruments aimed at improving technologies needed for future Artemis lunar missions. These instruments will test several technologies, including underground drilling, regolith sampling, lunar Global Navigation Satellite System use, radiation-hardened computing, and lunar dust mitigation techniques.
At approximately 2:17 a.m. Eastern Time after launch, the Blue Ghost lunar lander separated from the Falcon 9 rocket. The lander was successfully powered up and continued on its journey to the Moon.
Blue Ghost is expected to land on the lunar surface on Sunday, March 2. During its mission, NASA's science instruments aim to test and demonstrate subsurface drilling technology, regolith sampling capabilities, global navigation satellite system capabilities, radiation-hardened computing and lunar dust mitigation techniques. The data obtained could also benefit people on Earth by providing insight into how space weather and other space-based forces affect Earth.
