SpaceX is about to launch two private landers to the Moon

Japanese company ispace announced on December 17 that its second lunar lander will launch into space using a Falcon 9 rocket along with Blue Ghost, another lunar lander built by American company Firefly Aerospace. . This rocket is expected to take off from Florida, USA, as early as mid-January 2025.

In the first attempt in April 2023, ispace tried to land the 1,000 kg Hakuto-R lander on the Moon. However, this attempt failed when the ship’s altitude sensor was confused by a sunken crater.

In the second attempt, ispace will send Resilience, a similar but upgraded lander, to Mare Frigoris (Cold Sea) – a vast basalt plain located 60.5 degrees north of the lunar equator. Resilience carries five cargoes: a water electrolyser, an experimental food production module, a deep space radiation detector, a commemorative alloy plate and Tenacious – a small 26 cm high exploration robot developed by ispace subsidiary developed in Luxembourg.

Resilience will fly an efficient and energy-efficient path to the Moon, then land on Mare Frigoris about four to five months after launch. If all goes according to plan, the lander will operate on the surface and deploy Tenacious to collect soil and rock under contract with NASA.

Meanwhile, this is Firefly Aerospace’s first lunar mission. Blue Ghost will carry 10 scientific instruments and technology demonstrations to the lunar surface for NASA, through the agency’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program.

Blue Ghost is expected to separate from the Falcon 9 rocket before Resilience and will also reach the Moon first, entering the celestial orbit about 45 days after launch. It will land on Mare Crisium (Crisis Sea) – a basalt basin located about 17 degrees north of the lunar equator.

Blue Ghost will operate the instruments for one complete lunar day (about 14 Earth days), then photograph lunar sunsets and provide important data on how the topsoil responds to magnetic influences. Sun. The lander will also operate for several hours at night.

The success of Resilience or Blue Ghost will both make history. To date, only one private spacecraft has safely landed on the Moon, Odysseus of the American company Intuitive Machines. Odysseus achieved this achievement in February.