Firelfly Aerospace has chosen SpaceX to launch its Blue Ghost lander to the Moon in 2023. On site, the vehicle will unload a dozen payloads on behalf of NASA .
Last February, NASA set its sights on Firefly Aerospace to deliver a set of ten payloads of research on the Moon in 2023 under its Commercial Lunar Services Program (CLPS).
Among these ten instruments are a probe to measure the heat flow of the lunar interior and an X-ray imager to study the interaction of the Earth's magnetosphere with the solar wind . It will also test several technologies, including a radiation-tolerant computer system and an experiment to test the ability to use GPS signals at lunar distances.
These instruments, with a total mass of 94 kilograms , will be delivered to Mare Crisium, northeast of the Sea of Tranquility (nearside northern hemisphere) by a lander dubbed Blue Ghost, named after a rare species of firefly. It remained to be seen who would be responsible for delivering this lander to lunar orbit.
Firefly is developing its own launcher, named Alpha, but this rocket won't be powerful enough to take Blue Ghost to the Moon. Also, the company had to get closer to another supplier. And not surprisingly, she chose SpaceX's Falcon 9 .
“High-performance SpaceX Falcon 9 launch vehicle enables lunar transit using minimal Blue Ghost propulsion resources “said Shea Ferring, senior vice president of spacecraft at Firefly. And who says less propulsion, says more payloads. Thus, thanks to SpaceX, the company will be able to afford to deliver all its instruments to the surface.
With this contract, SpaceX now launches five of the six CLPS missions assigned to date by NASA. Intuitive Machines will also rely on the Falcon 9 to launch its two lunar landing missions, the first of which is now scheduled for early next year. Same thing for the company Masten Space Systems and its lander Masten Mission One, whose launch is scheduled for the end of 2022 .
Astrobotic announced last April that its Griffin lander, carrying NASA's VIPER rover, will be launched on a Falcon Heavy launch vehicle. Astrobotic, in charge of the last of the six CLPS missions, will offer itself the services of the Vulcan rocket, developed by United Launch Alliance. The launch of its lander, named Peregrine, is scheduled for the end of this year.
Finally, let's remember that SpaceX also won a NASA contract to launch the first two elements of the future lunar gateway in 2024 . And even though the project is still on temporary hold, SpaceX is still expected to return future humans to the Moon as part of the Artemis program aboard its Starship vehicle.
