Next workweek , a new lander will be launched to the moon bear NASA scientific discipline official document as part of the agency ’s push button to integrate more private company into its lunar program . Firefly Aerospace has developed its first lunar lander for theBlue Ghost delegation , which is set to establish on Wednesday January 15 , carry 10 NASA instruments .
The launching , from Launch Complex 39A at NASA ’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida , will use a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket salad and is scheduled for 1:11 a.m. ET . It is part of NASA ’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services ( CLPS ) initiative , which also saw asemi - successful landing on the moonby Intuitive Machines last year .
Blue Ghost aspire to land on the moonshine near a volcanic feature film called Mons Latreille , which is located within the Mare Crisium river basin in the moon ’s northern hemisphere . It will carry instruments and experimentation for collecting samples of the stale fabric that covers the Sun Myung Moon , call regolith , and for drilling beneath the lunation ’s airfoil .
“ Firefly will deliver six instruments to interpret the landing internet site and surrounding vicinity , ” said Chris Culbert , manager of the CLPS initiative at NASA ’s Johnson Space Center in Houston . “ These instruments will study geological process and lunar regolith , test solar cells , and characterize the neutron radioactivity environs , supplying priceless selective information as NASA works to demonstrate a long - condition presence on the moon . ”
NASA require to recruit individual companies like Firefly and Intuitive Machines to serve set up base and perform geographic expedition of the moon as part of the Artemis program , which aims to render man to the synodic month within the next few years . establish company like SpaceX and Blue Origin are developing vehicles for down mankind on the synodic month , while smaller companies are puzzle out on delivering payloads such as scientific instrument . The hope is that , by helping company create way to make for in low - Earth arena and on the moon , NASA can economize money by becoming a client of these companies rather than prepare all the technology itself .
However , first the companies need to turn up that they can make their technology work . Intuitive Machines became the first commercial entity to soft land on the lunation , but the lander tumble as it came down toward the surface and land at an angle . Its payloads did live on , so the mission was deemed a success , but it show how thought-provoking landing on the synodic month remains . The company will make a series ofother missions to the moonfor NASA in future .
“ The CLPS initiative carry out U.S. scientific and expert studies on the Earth’s surface of the moon by robot explorers . As NASA prepares for succeeding human exploration of the synodic month , the CLPS initiative continues to support a growing lunar economic system with American companies , ” said Joel Kearns , deputy associate executive for geographic expedition at NASA ’s Science Mission Directorate . “ Understanding the geological formation of the Gruithuisen Domes , as well as the ancient lava flows surrounding the landing place site , will help the U.S. answer authoritative questions about the lunar control surface . ”
