NASA Blue Ghost Mission 1 successfully launched

Carrying science and tech on Firefly Aerospace's first Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CRPS) flight for NASA, Blue Ghost Mission 1 successfully launched at 1:11 a.m. EST Wednesday January 15, 2025

[The Blue Ghost lander will carry 10 NASA science and technology instruments to the lunar surface to further understand the Moon and help prepare for future human missions. (NASA image)]

Washington: Carrying science and tech on Firefly Aerospace's first Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CRPS) flight for NASA, Blue Ghost Mission 1 successfully launched at 1:11 a.m. EST Wednesday January 15, 2025.

The commercial spacecraft aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket successful liftoff was from Launch Complex 39A at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

"This mission embodies the bold spirit of NASA's Artemis campaign – a campaign driven by scientific exploration and discovery," said NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy.

"Each flight we're part of is vital step in the larger blueprint to establish a responsible, sustained human presence at the Moon, Mars, and beyond. Each scientific instrument and technology demonstration brings us closer to realizing our vision. Congratulations to the NASA, Firefly, and SpaceX teams on this successful launch", Melroy said.

Firefly Aerospace is targeting a lunar landing on Sunday March 02, 2025.

Once on the Moon, NASA will test and demonstrate lunar drilling technology, regolith (lunar rocks and soil) sample collection capabilities, global navigation satellite system abilities, radiation tolerant computing, and lunar dust mitigation methods.

"The data captured could also benefit humans on Earth by providing insights into how space weather and other cosmic forces impact our home planet", NASA said.

As part of NASA's modern lunar exploration activities, CLPS deliveries to the Moon will help humanity better understand planetary processes and evolution, search for water and other resources, and support long-term, sustainable human exploration of the Moon in preparation for the first human mission to Mars.

There are 10 NASA payloads flying on this flight including Lunar Instrumentation for Subsurface Thermal Exploration with Rapidity (LISTER), Lunar PlanetVac (LPV), Next Generation Lunar Retroreflector (NGLR), Regolith Adherence Characterization (RAC), Radiation Tolerant Computer (RadPC), Electrodynamic Dust Shield (EDS), Lunar Environment heliospheric X-ray Imager (LEXI), Lunar Magnetotelluric Sounder (LMS), Lunar GNSS Receiver Experiment (LuGRE) and Stereo Camera for Lunar Plume-Surface Studies (SCALPSS).

Follow ummid.com WhatsApp Channel for all the latest updates.

Select Language To Read in Urdu, Hindi, Marathi or Arabic.