Firefly Aerospace has completed the environmental testing on Firefly’s Blue Ghost lunar lander ahead of the first mission to the Moon in support of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative — Firefly is now preparing to ship the lander to Cape Canaveral, Florida, in mid-December for launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket during a six-day window that opens no earlier than mid-January of 2025.
Blue Ghost environmental testing was recently completed at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in mid-October. During testing, the most extreme temperatures the lander will see during transit and on the Moon’s surface were replicated in a thermal vacuum chamber. Equipped with a solar simulator, JPL’s chamber enabled comprehensive functional and behavioral testing in a flight-like environment. The testing also included vibration, acoustic, electromagnetic interference and compatibility tests to further verify the integrated lander can withstand each flight environment during launch, transit, and landing on the Moon.
Following launch and vehicle separation, Blue Ghost will begin its approximately 45-day transit to the Moon, allowing ample time to conduct robust health checks and begin payload operations on orbit. Blue Ghost will then land in Mare Crisium and operate payloads for a full lunar day (14 Earth days). As part of NASA’s CLPS initiative, the 10 payloads will perform numerous science and technology demonstrations, including lunar subsurface drilling, sample collection, and dust mitigation to advance research for future human missions on the Moon. Additional demonstrations, including X-ray imaging of Earth’s magnetic field, will also benefit humans on Earth, providing insights into how space weather impacts the planet.
Once payload operations are complete, Blue Ghost will capture the lunar sunset and provide critical data on how lunar regolith reacts to solar influences during lunar dusk conditions. Blue Ghost will then operate for several hours into the lunar night.
Blue Ghost Mission 1, named Ghost Riders in the Sky, is the first of three Firefly task orders supporting the NASA CLPS initiative as part of NASA’s Artemis campaign that serves to unlock the commercial lunar economy and enable a lasting lunar presence.
The approximately 60 day mission will be operated from Firefly’s Mission Operations Center in Cedar Park, Texas. For more details on Ghost Riders in the Sky, visit this direct link…
“Blue Ghost aced environmental testing and proved the lander is performing 100% as expected, which is a testament to the incredible Firefly team,” said Jason Kim, CEO at Firefly Aerospace. “This team has gone above and beyond with innovative testing approaches to ensure Blue Ghost is flight ready. While we know there will be more challenges ahead, I’m confident this team has what it takes to softly touch down on the lunar surface and nail this mission.”
“With additional time in our schedule, we shipped Blue Ghost back to Firefly’s spacecraft facility in north Austin, Texas, where it has remained until we received the go to ship to the Cape,” said Jana Spruce, Vice President of Spacecraft at Firefly Aerospace. “In the meantime, the Firefly team has utilized this extra time to further conduct mission simulations and prep the team as we get ready to begin our first of many road trips to the Moon.”