Firefly Aerospace is almost ready for its first mission to the moon.
The company’s Blue Ghost lunar lander arrives at NASA Kennedy Space Center (KSC) integrates with SpaceX in Florida on Monday (December 16) Falcon 9 rocket Robot probe to be launched – and Japanese private Lunar Lander Resilience — to space.
Blue Ghost Mission 1, named ghost rider in the skyscheduled to launch sometime within six days starting no earlier than mid-January. Firefly was selected for this mission by NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Service (CLPS) program, which contracts with companies to deliver NASA science and payloads to the surface moon.
“We are robotically exploring the lunar surface as artemisbut using the services of a U.S. company rather than performing the task yourself NASA. This is part of NASA’s efforts to leverage commercial services and public-private partnerships,” Joel Kearns, associate administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, explained during a mission briefing on Tuesday (December 17). “We do this to leverage the technological innovation and entrepreneurship we see in America’s private sector to achieve public goals.
Related: Firefly Aerospace completes Blue Ghost lunar lander, to be launched by SpaceX in January 2025
Aerial Ghost Rider Carry 10 NASA payloads and technical demos to test conditions between Earth The moon, and its surface. NASA will use data collected on this mission and future robotic landers to better shape our understanding of the moon. In turn, this effort will help the agency establish a sustained human presence on and around the moon through its Artemis program.
Blue Ghost’s science payload includes investigation of interactions solar wind Particles in Earth’s magnetic field, analysis of lunar geology and regolith (lunar dust) composition, and first-of-its-kind technology demonstrations such as radiation-hardened computer hardware, Electrostatic system To dislodge harmful dust that accumulates on the component’s surface and test the capabilities of a GPS-like navigation system in the lunar region.
Ryan Watkins, program scientist in NASA’s Exploration Science Strategy and Integration Office, told reporters at a press conference on Tuesday: “In terms of quantity, the NASA payload delivered this time is NASA’s largest payload in the CLPS task order to date.
Here is a brief overview of each payload:
- NGLR: The Next Generation Lunar Retroreflector (NGLR) is a pulse reflection target Taken from the Lunar Laser Ranging Observatory on Earth to measure the distance between the Earth and the Moon in the submillimeter range. NGLR will also collect data and theories related to the lunar interior dark matter.
- RAC: The Regolith Adhesion Properties (RAC) experiment provides 30 different sample surfaces that will be exposed to the lunar environment after landing. Observing how materials wear over time will help researchers better understand how the lunar environment affects spacecraft and habitat exteriors, spacesuits, infrastructure and other parts.
- Lexie: The Lunar Environmental Heliosphere X-ray Imager (LEXI) will monitor how the solar wind interacts with Earth’s magnetosphere and how energy in that environment creates geomagnetic storms and space weather.
- List: The Lunar Subsurface Rapid Thermal Detection Instrument (LISTER) experiment will drill 6-9 feet (2-3 meters) to measure heat flow at various depths beneath the lunar surface.
- Energy spectrum analysis: The Electric Dust Shield (EDS) is a technology demonstration that uses electric fields to control dust on specific surfaces. Because it is suitable for the type of infrastructure that astronauts will one day need on the moon, EDS’s ability to lift and move dust particles could be used to clean regolith on the surfaces of solar panels, windows, radiators and other equipment that is sensitive to particle accumulation.
- Rad Computer: The Radiation Tolerant Computer System (RadPC) is another technology demonstration designed to implement a set of fault mitigation strategies to protect computer components from damage caused by ionizing radiation in space and the moon.
- Learning Management System: The Lunar Telluric Sounder (LMS) will use the interaction of the solar wind and Earth’s magnetic field to help calculate the electrical conductivity distribution in the Moon’s interior.
- LVP: The Lunar PlanetVac (LPV) will be used to collect lunar regolith samples using a novel pneumatic procedure powered by compressed gas. The technology will be used to collect lunar surface samples for analysis by other onboard instruments.
- scalp: Stereo camera for surface studies of lunar plumes (Scalp PSS) will collect imaging data of the Moon during Blue Ghost’s descent to the lunar surface. SCALPSS will study the interaction of the rover’s landing engines with surface dust and measure the size and volume of displaced regolith in the exhaust crater.
- Lou Gray: The Lunar GNSS Receiver Experiment (LuGRE) demonstration will use Earth’s Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) for spacecraft navigation and position tracking around the Moon.
From launch to now blue ghost lander If power is lost, the entire mission is expected to last 60 Earth days.
“We will collect critical payload science data throughout the mission,” Firefly CEO Jason King said Tuesday.
The spacecraft will remain in Earth orbit for 25 days and then undergo a translunar injection burn to begin a four-day orbit around the moon.
“Blue Ghost” will operate in lunar orbit for another 16 days, and gradually enter a descending orbit and land on the lunar surface during the remaining two weeks of the mission. The lander will land automatically, using visual navigation software to guide its descent. If all systems are functioning properly, program scientists expect to receive the first high-definition images from the lunar surface within 30 minutes of landing.
The 14 Earth days the probe spends on the moon will constitute a full lunar day. The setting sun will cause the Blue Ghost to lose power, and as the night progresses, its battery will slowly drain. Once night falls, the lander’s battery is expected to last about five hours – but its final mission is to capture twilight before the Blue Ghost’s lights go out completely.
Before the sun sets, Blue Ghost’s 360-degree cameras will observe eclipseEarth passes between our natural satellite and sunlight. If all goes according to plan, what follows will be an event not seen since astronauts last walked on the moon in 1972: “We hope to capture what Eugene Cernan saw and did during his final steps on the moon. recorded phenomenon. Apollo 17where he observed the horizon glowing as lunar dust suspended on the surface,” King said on Tuesday.
“Knowing that Firefly’s Blue Ghost mission is the pinnacle of what the last Apollo astronauts to walk on the moon observed is a fitting tribute to their legacy,” King said. “We are proud that our The mission will support NASA’s critical science and technology operations that will pave the way for our nation, our partners, and the world’s enduring presence.”