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Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost Mission 1 successfully landed on the moon, becoming only the second private company to achieve this feat and the first to do so upright.
Intuitive was the first private company to achieve a lunar landing.
Blue Ghost Mission 1
Blue Ghost Mission 1 is a private lunar landing mission by Firefly Aerospace under NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program.
It was launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9.
It successfully landed on the Moon, at Mons Latreille, Mare Crisium.
The mission is designed to operate for 14 Earth days (one lunar day).
Key Features of Blue Ghost Mission 1:
Carries 10 scientific instruments, including a lunar soil analyzer, a radiation-tolerant computer, and a GPS-based navigation experiment to test satellite navigation on the Moon.
Equipped with a high-definition imaging system to capture a lunar eclipse (March 14, 2024) and lunar sunset (March 16, 2024).
Successfully navigated a rocky and cratered surface using hazard-avoidance technology, slowing from thousands of miles per hour to just two mph before touchdown.
The lander is golden in color and about the size of a hippopotamus.
It supports Artemis missions by testing lunar technologies and reducing costs for future human exploration.
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