If all goes according to plan, two private lunar landers will launch next month on the same SpaceX rocket.
Japanese company space announced on Tuesday night (December 17) that its second lunar mission will launch on the same day Falcon 9 The rocket will launch the “Blue Ghost” lunar lander manufactured by Firefly Aerospace of Texas.
That Rocket It will launch from Florida’s Space Coast in mid-January 2025.
“Today, we are pleased to announce that in about a month, ispace’s historic Mission 2 will launch and we will make our second landing attempt. moonTakeshi Hakamada, founder and CEO of ispace said in a statement.
“As organizations, companies and missions around the world set their sights on the Moon, ispace will continue to build on our achievements in Mission 2 to lead the world in developing a lunar economy,” he added. “We hope you’ll join us. See you on the moon!”
Related: Japan’s ispace will send a small European-made lunar rover to the moon this year (photo)
The company’s Mission 1 attempts to send the 2,200-pound (1,000-kilogram) Hakuto-R lander to the moon in April 2023. failedHowever, after the airborne altitude sensor was obtained confuse On the edge of the crater.
Mission 2 will launch a similar but upgraded lander called “Resilience” to Mare Frigoris (“Cold Sea”), a large basalt plain located 60.5 degrees north of the lunar equator.
“Elasticity” carries five payloads – a water electrolyser, an experimental food production module, a deep space radiation detector, a commemorative alloy plate and tenaciousa 10.24-inch (26 cm) tall microrobot developed by ispace’s Luxembourg-based subsidiary.
Resilience will take an efficient, low-energy path to the moon and then attempt a landing in the Frigoris Sea four to five months after launch. If all goes according to plan, the lander will orbit the lunar surface and deploy Tenacity, which will collect dust and gravel on the lunar surface. Signed a contract with NASA.
Resilience is sharing its Falcon 9 rocket journey with Firefly blue ghost landerthere are currently no flights.
The first Blue Ghost mission, dubbed the “Ghost Rider in the Sky” by Firefly, will provide NASA with 10 scientific instruments and technology demonstrations to the lunar surface through the agency’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program. .
Blue Ghost will launch from Falcon 9 before Resilience and reach the moon first, entering lunar orbit about 45 days after launch. The lander will touch down in Mare Crisium (“Crisis Sea”), a basalt basin located about 17 degrees north of the lunar equator.
Firefly wrote in a report that Blue Ghost will “operate the payload for a full lunar day (approximately 14 Earth days)” Mission statement. “Following payload operations, Blue Ghost will capture images of the lunar sunset and provide critical data on how the lunar regolith responds to solar influences during lunar twilight conditions. The lander will then operate for several days during the lunar night. hours.
The success of both Resilience and Blue Ghost will be historic. To date, only one private spacecraft has safely landed on the moon – Intuitive Machines’ Odysseus, accomplished the feat February this year.