Dual lunar mission shows how commercial space companies are starting to collaborate
What just happened? In a historic dual-launch mission, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket successfully deployed two commercial lunar landers early Wednesday morning, marking a significant milestone in the race to establish a lasting presence on the Moon. The launch, which took place at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 1:11 a.m. EST, sent the spacecraft on separate trajectories toward Earth’s celestial neighbor.
The mission included two robotic lunar landers: one from Texas-based Firefly Aerospace and another from Japanese space company ispace. The two landers, each about the size of an SUV, were launched into slightly different orbits ranging from 200,000 to 225,000 miles from Earth. This strategic deployment will allow the spacecraft to use its own propulsion systems for the final maneuvers required to enter lunar orbit in the coming months.
Firefly’s Blue Ghost lander, part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program, carries a suite of scientific instruments and technology demonstrations. The CLPS program, established in 2018, aims to foster the development of commercial lunar landers while providing NASA with a cost-effective means of delivering payloads to the Moon. Joel Kearns, deputy associate administrator for exploration at NASA’s Science Directorate, acknowledged the high-risk nature of these missions to Ars Technica, but emphasized their potential rewards. “We know it’s a high risk. We accept that it’s high risk, but man, it’s high reward. So it’s worth taking the risk because the science that we’re going to get from these missions is just going to be incredible. »
The Blue Ghost lander is expected to spend about 25 days in Earth orbit before embarking on a four-day transit to the Moon. Its target landing site is Mare Crisium, a large impact basin located on the near side of the Moon. After landing, tentatively scheduled for March 2, the lander will operate for about 14 days, conducting experiments with its onboard instruments, including an underground drill and an X-ray imager.
Alongside the Firefly lander, ispace’s Resilience lander represents a purely commercial enterprise. This mission marks ispace’s second attempt at a moon landing, after a crash in 2023 due to a software error. “I think the fact that we have two lunar landers on the same rocket for the first time in history is pretty significant,” said Ron Garan, CEO of ispace’s U.S. subsidiary and a former NASA astronaut. “I think we all support each other. »
-The Resilience lander will take a longer journey of four to five months to reach the Moon. It carries several innovative experiments, including a water electrolyzer to test equipment for converting lunar ice into electricity and rocket fuel. Additionally, it will deploy a micro-rover named Tenacious, designed to collect lunar soil samples and capture high-definition images.
The mission highlights growing collaboration within the commercial space sector and SpaceX’s approach to reducing launch costs.
“When we have two missions that can each go to the Moon on the same launch, that’s something we obviously want to take advantage of,” said Julianna Scheiman, NASA science mission director for SpaceX.
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