After a first mission at the beginning of February, with the landing of a lander, the United States is launching a new mission towards the Moon at the beginning of 2025. A robotic mission, which again consists of deploying a lander on site. This is to prepare for the return of the astronauts.
It’s a mission that could almost have gone unnoticed, as all eyes are on SpaceX (with its seventh Starship test flight) and Blue Origin (which must successfully complete the inaugural flight of New Glenn). A distant duel of giant rockets which almost masked another quite remarkable space event: a takeoff for the Moon.
It is indeed this week of January 15 that the Blue Ghost M1 mission is due to leave, heading towards the Earth’s natural satellite. It will not be a manned flight, but a robotic one. In fact, it involves placing a lander built by the American company Firefly Aerospace on the lunar surface. His nickname? Blue GhostBlue Ghost), like the mission.
Scheduled for January 15 at 7:11 a.m. (Paris time), the departure of the Blue Ghost M1 mission will be ensured by a Falcon 9 launcher chartered by SpaceX from the Kennedy Space Center, in Florida. At the end of its 45-day journey, Blue Ghost will end its journey in Mare Crisium, a vast lunar plain, to the southwest of the visible side.
The lander is taking on board 10 scientific and technological payloads for this trip to further characterize the lunar environment, in order to prepare for the future arrival of manned missions to the surface. The first of its kind is planned for mid-2027 (Artemis III), assuming no further postponements take place between now and then.
Preparing for the return of astronauts to the Moon
The Artemis program, the name given by NASA to the return of astronauts to the satellite, more than half a century after the Apollo program, requires a lot of preparatory work. These launches of robotic missions are part of it. This is the CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) program, which mobilizes private companies.
The first CLPS mission, nicknamed Peregrine and launched in January 2024, was a failure. But the next one, which occurred in February of the same year, fared better, marking America’s return to the Moon. This mission, called IM-1 Odysseus, included a lander and 6 payloads. SpaceX launched it with a Falcon 9 rocket.
Several other CLPS missions are planned between 2025 and 2028. Others are likely to follow afterwards, as human activities on the satellite develop. This year alone, we have announced the departure of IM-2 Athena in February, Griffin Mission 1 in September and even IM-3 in October. Dates may change.
