Two private lunar missions, led by America’s Firefly Aerospace and Japan’s ispace, have successfully blasted off towards the moon on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, marking a significant step towards establishing a human presence on Earth’s nearest neighbour.
Two Private Missions Head Towards the Moon
In a historic moment, two private lunar missions have successfully blasted off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Centre on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The missions, led by America‘s Firefly Aerospace and Japan‘s ispace, will attempt to land on Earth’s nearest neighbour, marking a significant step towards establishing a human presence on the moon.
Mission Objectives and Routes
The two lunar landers, named Resilience and Blue Ghost, were launched in the middle of the night. While they shared the ride initially, Firefly Aerospace and ispace parted ways an hour later, with each mission taking a different route to the moon. SpaceX has posted images of the landers as they drifted off into space.
Firefly’s Blue Ghost is expected to take approximately 45 days to reach the moon’s Mare Crisium, where it will conduct experiments for NASA. The experiments include testing a device that could help future moonwalkers keep abrasive particles off their suits and equipment. NASA is paying Firefly $101m (£82.7m) for the mission and an additional $44m dollars (£36m) for the experiments.
In contrast, ispace’s Resilience will take around four to five months to reach an area called Mare Frigoris, meaning ‘Sea of Cold’. This mission represents a second attempt by ispace to successfully land on the moon, following a failed attempt two years ago. The company’s boss, Takeshi Hakamada, expressed his optimism about this mission, stating that “we don’t think this is a race” and that their focus is on conducting valuable scientific experiments.
Unique Features of Each Lander
Both landers are designed to operate for one lunar day, equivalent to 14 Earth days. Firefly’s Blue Ghost will be accompanied by a micro-rover that moves at a leisurely speed of less than one inch per second. The rover will also leave behind a special memento – a toy-size red house designed by a Swedish artist.
Only five countries have successfully put spacecraft on the moon since the 1960s: the former Soviet Union, America, Japan, India, and China. The US remains the only nation to have sent humans to the moon, with the last mission taking place in 1972. NASA is currently working towards repeating this feat by the end of the decade.
Future Missions and Plans
Another moon mission by Houston-based Intuitive Machines is set to launch for NASA on a SpaceX rocket at the end of February. The company successfully put a US lander on the moon near the south pole last year, marking a significant milestone in lunar exploration.
The recent launch by SpaceX was initially intended as the debut of a rocket from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos‘ company but was postponed earlier this week. The company plans to try again this Thursday (16 January).
