US-based Firefly Aerospace might be touchdown its Blue Ghost Mission 1 on the close to facet of the Moon on Sunday, March 2, 2025 at about 12:20 pm. The Blue Ghost lander is headed to Mare Crisium, a flat plain shaped from lava that stuffed and hardened inside a 345-mile-wide crater carved by an historical asteroid impression.
The Blue Ghost Mission 1 is a part of NASA’s Industrial Lunar Payload Companies (CLPS) initiative.(AFP Picture/Firefly Aerospace)
The mission is a part of US’ Nationwide Aeronautics and House Administration’s (NASA) Industrial Lunar Payload Companies (CLPS) initiative.
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How a lot does the Blue Ghost Mission 1 value?
NASA had awarded Firefly a contract value $93.3 million to ship a complete of 10 NASA-sponsored science and know-how demonstration payloads to the Moon.
In line with a report in The New York Instances, NASA can pay $101.5 million to Firefly if all 10 payloads attain the lunar floor safely and rather less if the mission fails.
Blue Ghost Mission 1: Particulars
The mission was launched on January 15, 2025 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Kennedy House Heart together with Japanese area company JAXA’s Resilience (Hakuto M2) mission.
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Blue Ghost went into orbit across the Moon on February 13. After a profitable touchdown, the lander will conduct floor operations by means of one lunar daylight interval (which is equal to roughly 14 days) and for a while after native sundown.
Specs of Blue Ghost lander
The Blue Ghost lander consists of a box-shaped structural framework and 4 touchdown legs. It has two decks for mounting tools and a 155 kg payload capability.
Energy is offered by photo voltaic panels that may be mounted on the edges of the spacecraft or deployed to allow them to protrude above the highest deck, relying on the orientation of the spacecraft and the Solar.
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The arrays present 450 W nominal energy and a peak of 650 W.
Thermal management is obtained utilizing warmth pipes, radiators, multi-layer insulation, and energetic heaters.
Communications on the floor enable 6 Mbps downlink common, 10 Mbps peak, and 0.2 kbps uplink common, 2 kbps peak.