Witness the real-time SpaceX launch of two private lunar spacecrafts: one resembling a phoenix, and the other, a specter.
Stellar Sojourn: Two Moonbound Landers Set to Touch Down
Get your space boots ready! On the 15th of January, 2025, a SpaceX Falcon 9 is all set to blast off towards our celestial neighbor – the Moon. The mission will carry not one, but two lunar landers: Blue Ghost from US Firefly Space, and Resilience from Japan's ispace. The historically monumental event will take place at 06:11 GMT (01:11 EST) from Cape Canaveral and will be aired live.
Blue Ghost, part of the intriguingly named 'Ghost Riders in the Sky' mission, will be the first to leave the rocket. It will spend 25 days orbiting Earth before reaching the Moon, aiming for a soft landing in late March. The lunar lander is part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative, a program designed to commission private companies to carry experiments to the Moon ahead of Artemis' human return to the Moon's surface.
The lander will carry a whopping 10 experiments, including PlanetVac – an innovative soil sampling system that pneumatically sucks up lunar dust called regolith, then sorts it using gas jets and sieves. There are also experiments to test navigation systems, radiation-tolerant technology, and even a shield to fend off the abrasive lunar dust. For an added touch of artistry, Blue Ghost will snap photos of the lunar surface during the dusk period to monitor regolith behavior.
Resilience, the second moonbound lander, is a testament to perseverance. Japanese company ispace will be hoping for a better outcome than their previous mission, Hakuto-R, which crashed in February 2023 due to a fault in its altimeter. Resilience is headed for Mare Frigoris in the Moon's northern hemisphere, armed with experiments like a module housing algae to explore lunar food production, a water electrolysis experiment, and a deep space radiation probe. To top it off, the mission will also carry a miniature red house, created by artist Mikael Genbery.
The mission's pièce de résistance, however, is the tenacious Tenacious micro rover, a joint effort between ispace and the Luxembourg Space Agency. Standing at just 26 cm tall, it has a ground-facing camera for capturing lunar surface images and receives commands from the main lander. If successful, Tenacious will go down in history as the first ever privately constructed rover on another world.
Stay tuned for the exciting space race! NASA will live stream the SpaceX launch of both Blue Ghost and Resilience. Tune in from 05:30 GMT (00:30 EST) for the unforgettable ride.
Gather your friends and prepare your devices, as the upcoming launch on the 15th of January, 2025, will not only mark a significant advancement in space-and-astronomy but also substantiate the role of technology in this venture. The SpaceX Falcon 9 carrying Blue Ghost, part of the 'Ghost Riders in the Sky' mission, will be the pioneer in utilizing advanced science and technology to explore the Moon's surface, taking us one step closer to our understanding of lunar geology and physiology.
