Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost lander has efficiently touched down on the moon, in a pivotal second for personal house journey.
The dimensions of a compact automotive, the four-legged lander is carrying 10 scientific payloads and used 21 thrusters to information itself to landing close to an historic volcanic vent on Mare Crisium, a big basin within the northeast nook of the moon’s Earth-facing facet.
Firefly had hoped to be the second non-public agency to attain a gentle moon touchdown, after Houston-based Intuitive Machines’ Odysseus lander made a lopsided gentle landing final 12 months.
A “gentle” moon touchdown refers to a managed touchdown on the moon, the place it touches down at a low pace and causes minimal harm to the car. A “arduous touchdown” can be a crash touchdown.
Solely 5 nations have been profitable in soft-landings prior to now: the then-Soviet Union, the US, China, India and Japan.
Backed by NASA and its flagship Artemis moon program, non-public firms have performed a big function within the trendy moon race. The moonshot by Firefly, an upstart primarily constructing rockets, is one among three lunar missions actively in progress.
Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin are constructing landers to place US astronauts on the moon as quickly as 2027 – this may be for the primary time since 1972.
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