Firefly Aerospace

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Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost Mission 1 begins transit to the Moon

Firefly Aerospace announced the successful launch of its Blue Ghost lunar lander on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, marking the beginning of its 60-day mission. Following a 45-day transit to the Moon, the mission aims to deliver 10 instruments for NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS)...
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FighterJock said:
Excellent news, well done to all involved. How long will the lander be operational on the lunar surface?
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Will have to look up to confirm what was heard after midnight our time, but I'm pretty sure they said their planned mission was 1 lunar day, aka 2 Earth weeks.

EDIT: Yeah, here, this supports what I remember,

fireflyspace.com

Blue Ghost Mission 1 - Firefly Aerospace

Firefly’s first mission to the Moon will deliver 10 NASA CLPS payloads to Mare Crisium with a target landing date of March 2, 2025.
fireflyspace.com fireflyspace.com

Mission Updates​

Firefly’s Blue Ghost Mission 1, named Ghost Riders in the Sky, launched on January 15 and completed its 45-day Earth to Moon transit before softly touching down on the Moon on March 2. Firefly is now the first commercial company in history to achieve a fully successful Moon landing! As Blue Ghost performs 14 days of surface operations, follow along with Firefly’s mission updates along the way.
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Scott Manley has recently put out a video about three privately funded Moon-landers including the Blue Ghost:


Last month Firefly and iSpace launched their own independent lunar landers to on the same SpaceX rocket. In a few days we expect Intuitive Machines to launch on another Falcon 9. This means we're going to have 3 privately built lunar landers en route to the moon, before Firefly's Blue Ghost hopes to attempt a landing this weekend.
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So why are there so many private companies building lunar landers? What are their plans and what differentiates their designs?
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The Space Bucket has put out a video about the touchdown of the Blue Ghost Moon-lander:


A few days ago Firefly Aerospace successfully landed on the Moon with its privately built Blue Ghost lunar lander. While initially we only got a few images of the lander after it had touched down on the Moon, Firefly just released a new video.
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Here, we can see not only the landing but also some of the final maneuvers that were made leading up to the touchdown. It also gives us a good idea of the speed and state of the landing as teams work to complete more science over the next two weeks.https://www.youtube.com/redirect?ev...w&q=https://thespacebucket.com/&v=IMd2A1Wljfc
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Credit:
Firefly Aerospace - / @fireflyspace https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC31UF9oKANw77yxBLxN852A
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Chapters:
0:00 - Intro
0:29 - Landing Video
4:03 - Two Weeks
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Scott Manley has uploaded another video about the Blue Ghost lander and how its' video gave clues as to where it landed on the Moon:


Ok the video is great, go and watch it first.
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But as soon as I saw it I was examining every detail to figure out the landing site, since the previously released images didn't have enough context given the limited resolution of images we already had.
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And so my answer is 18.5635N 61.8099E - watch the video to find out how I figured this out.
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The Space Bucket has an update video about the Blue Ghost Moon-lander:


It's been about 10 days since Firefly's Blue Ghost lunar lander touched down on the Moon's surface and since then it's been very busy. In that time, the lander has primarily been conducting different payload science, and videoing it when possible.
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In addition, images from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter show the lander's exact location and how close it truly is to a crater.
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Credit:
Firefly Aerospace - / @fireflyspace https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC31UF9oKANw77yxBLxN852A
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Chapters:
0:00 - Intro
0:26 - Surface Operations
3:35 - Extreme Heat
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The Space Bucket has just uploaded a new video concerning the Blue Ghost lander taking images of the solar-eclipse that has just happened:


Early this morning, Firefly Aerospace shared some of the first images they captured of a solar eclipse that happened overnight. This marked the first time in history a commercial company was actively operating on the Moon and able to observe a total solar eclipse where the Earth blocks the sun and casts a shadow on the lunar surface.
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In addition to these images, we also got new video of the landing using some of NASA's onboard cameras.
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Credit:
Firefly Aerospace - / @fireflyspace
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC31UF9oKANw77yxBLxN852A
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Chapters:
0:00 - Intro
0:28 - Solar Eclipse
3:11 - New Landing Video
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TomcatViP said:
End of Mission /End of contact with the lander and list of experience and achievments:

fireflyspace.com

Firefly Aerospace Successfully Completes 14 Days of Surface Operations on the Moon

All 10 NASA CLPS instruments successfully operated on the lunar surface and collected their science data during Blue Ghost Mission 1.
fireflyspace.com fireflyspace.com

Notice the magnetic experiment for fixing lunar dust.
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The Blue Ghost has performed very, VERY well so let's hope it survives the Moon's night and wakes up next sunrise on the Moon.
 
NMaude said:
The Blue Ghost has performed very, VERY well so let's hope it survives the Moon's night and wakes up next sunrise on the Moon.
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I don't believe they intend for that to happen. They have announced End of Mission, which means they are turning it off. Apparently the final command to the probe was to put it into "monument mode", powering everything down after a final message.


Edit to add a better article:

arstechnica.com

Here’s the secret to how Firefly was able to nail its first lunar landing

Darkness fell over Mare Crisium, ending a daily dose of dazzling images from the Moon.
arstechnica.com arstechnica.com
 
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So the Blue Ghost is officially out of power, from the Space Bucket:


As it was getting darker and Blue Ghost began to run out of power, the lander captured some final video and images of a lunar sunset from the Moon. With this, NASA scientists are now investigating the data to try and learn more about a certain lunar phenomenon.
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After two weeks on the lunar surface, Firefly and NASA confirmed that the lander completed 100% of its planned payload science. At this point, the mission is concluded and teams aren't expecting to hear from the lander again. https://www.youtube.com/redirect?ev...Q&q=https://thespacebucket.com/&v=zMniZKhYVmQ
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Credit:
Firefly Aerospace - / @fireflyspace https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC31UF9oKANw77yxBLxN852A
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Chapters:
0:00 - Intro
0:30 - Final Surface Operations
3:22 - Payload Science Overview
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It will be interesting in two-weeks time with the next sunrise on the Moon if they do get a signal from the lander.
 

With Its First Spacecraft, Firefly Scores Solid Win | Aviation Week Network

Success was all the sweeter when Firefly, with its debut spacecraft, not only landed on the Moon, but operated for more than 14 days on the lunar surface.
aviationweek.com aviationweek.com

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Among the bonus science collected by Firefly's Blue Ghost lunar lander was high-definition imagery of a total solar eclipse on March 14.
Credit: Firefly Aerospace.
 
zjz said:

With Its First Spacecraft, Firefly Scores Solid Win | Aviation Week Network

Success was all the sweeter when Firefly, with its debut spacecraft, not only landed on the Moon, but operated for more than 14 days on the lunar surface.
aviationweek.com aviationweek.com

54386246629_c4008881de_c.jpg

Among the bonus science collected by Firefly's Blue Ghost lunar lander was high-definition imagery of a total solar eclipse on March 14.
Credit: Firefly Aerospace.
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I won't be surprised at all if there're astronomers already using this photographic data to write new science papers on solar-eclipses.
 
That's just the new detonation engine outperforming....that's the ticket...Morgan Fairchild.

You know, that image will be used by first stages to make the baby upper stages go to bed early...keep your nozzle under the shroud or the great galactic ghoul will bite it off.
 
I imagine their insurance costs must be going up. What with two successes, two failures and two partial failures now.
 
NASA Selects Firefly for New Artemis Science, Tech Delivery to Moon

NASA has awarded Firefly Aerospace of Cedar Park, Texas, $176.7 million to deliver two rovers and three scientific instruments to the lunar surface as part of the agency’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative and Artemis campaign to explore more of the Moon than ever before.

This delivery is the first time NASA will use multiple rovers and a variety of stationary instruments, in a collaborative effort with the CSA (Canadian Space Agency) and the University of Bern, to help us understand the chemical composition of the lunar South Pole region and discover the potential for using resources available in permanently shadowed regions of the Moon.
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Click on the link above for the entire press release
 

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