SpaceX launched a pair of lunar landers on Wednesday for private companies looking to start operations on the Moon.
A Space X Falcon 9 rocket took off this Wednesday morning from the Kennedy Space Center on the American east coast towards the Moon. It carries a pair of probes from two companies, one American, the other Japanese. The objective is to help prepare for future human missions.
This is the second attempt for the Japanese company, whose first lander crashed on the moon two years ago. This time, it is equipped with a rover on board with a shovel to scoop up lunar soil to study and test potential sources of food and water for future explorers.
Firefly Aerospace, a Texas company new to the Moon, is flying 10 experiments for NASA, including a vacuum to collect soil, a drill to measure subsurface temperature and a device that could be used by future Moon explorers to prevent abrasive and sharp particles from reaching their spacesuits and equipment.
The two landers lifted off in the middle of the night from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, the latest in a series of streams of private spacecraft aiming for the moon. They shared the ride to save money, but split up an hour into the flight, exactly as planned, each taking a circuitous route for the month-long journey.
The two companies aim to replicate the feat achieved by the American company Intuitive Machines, which implanted a spacecraft on the surface of the Moon in early 2024. A world first for a private company.
