Posts: 54300 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 01-07-2025 09:34 AM
Please use this topic to discuss Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost Mission 1 to deliver NASA Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) experiments to the surface of the moon.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 54300 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 01-07-2025 09:35 AM
SpaceX is targeting 1:11 a.m. EST (0711 GMT) on Wednesday, Jan. 15 for the launch of Firefly’s Blue Ghost Mission 1, the next delivery to the moon through NASA's CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) program.
The Blue Ghost lander will launch on a Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 54300 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 01-14-2025 11:04 PM
NASA video
Watch Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost lunar lander lift off from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. SpaceX and Firefly Aerospace are targeting 1:11 a.m. EST (0611 UTC).
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 54300 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 01-15-2025 07:00 PM
From Firefly Aerospace (via X):
The first of many on-orbit shots from Blue Ghost! Stay tuned for more "roadside" attractions on our trip to the Moon with NASA.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 54300 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 01-24-2025 09:28 AM
Firefly Aerospace video
Our Ghost Riders captured the beauty of our home planet during another Earth orbit burn. This second engine burn (and first critical burn) adjusted Blue Ghost's apogee (the furthest point from Earth) using just our Spectre RCS thrusters.
With just over two weeks left in Earth orbit before our Trans Lunar Injection, our Ghost Riders will continue operating our NASA payloads onboard and capturing science data along the way!
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 54300 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 02-14-2025 01:29 PM
Firefly is targeting no earlier than 3:45 a.m. EST (0845 GMT) on Sunday, March 2, to land the Blue Ghost lunar lander on the moon.
Live coverage of the landing, jointly hosted by NASA and Firefly, will air on NASA+ starting approximately 75 minutes before the planned touchdown on the surface.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 54300 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 02-26-2025 07:29 PM
Firefly Aerospace video
Firefly's Blue Ghost lander captured more incredible footage of the Moon during its third lunar orbit maneuver on February 24 that inserted the spacecraft in a near-circular low lunar orbit.
The footage below, sped up by 10X, was captured about 100 km above the lunar surface, showing the far side of the Moon and a top-down view of Blue Ghost's RCS thrusters (center) and radiator panels on each side. The radiator panels are moving nominally to protect Blue Ghost's subsystems from extreme temperatures.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 54300 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 03-02-2025 01:12 AM
NASA video
Watch live as Firefly's team of Ghost Riders prepare to land our Blue Ghost lunar lander on the Moon for the first time!
Blue Ghost is slated to touch down in Mare Crisium on the Moon's near side no earlier than 2:45 a.m. CST (0845 UTC) on Sunday, March 2.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 54300 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 03-02-2025 02:51 AM
Congratulations to Firefly on a successful landing!
The telemetry from the footpad contact sensors showed three of four pads on the surface, but Firefly confirmed the lander was stable on the surface.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 54300 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 03-02-2025 03:21 AM
The first, low-resolution image from the surface:
Would you look at that view! Blue Ghost captured its first image on the Moon that embodies everything this bold, unstoppable Firefly team has worked so hard for over the last 3+ years. And we're just getting started!
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 54300 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
Congratulations FireFly Aerospace for Blue Ghost's Mission 1 successful Moon landing today!
It also marks a new milestone in the collaborations between NASA and private Space companies, as part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 54300 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 03-02-2025 04:28 AM
NASA video
NASA and Firefly Aerospace will discuss details of Blue Ghost Mission 1's Moon landing as part of NASA's lunar delivery initiative and Artemis campaign, as well as the science set to come during surface operations.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 54300 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 03-02-2025 04:35 AM
S-band (low resolution) photos from the surface!
Just in, our Ghost Riders downlinked another incredible Moon shot following a successful touchdown! Image shows the Moon's surface and Earth on the horizon. Blue Ghost's solar panel, X-band antenna (left), and LEXI payload (right) are also in view.
The image shows the Moon's surface and a top-down view of the lander's RCS thrusters (center) with a sun glare on the right side.
Blue Ghost's shadow seen on the Moon's surface!
Blackarrow Member
Posts: 3817 From: Belfast, United Kingdom Registered: Feb 2002
posted 03-02-2025 10:12 AM
Wow! That is one of the most evocative and amazing images I have ever seen from the Moon. We often say that "a picture is worth a thousand words" and here is the perfect example.
davidcwagner Member
Posts: 1107 From: Albuquerque, New Mexico Registered: Jan 2003
posted 03-02-2025 01:24 PM
Perched on a crater rim. What is maximum slope for landing?
Headshot Member
Posts: 1388 From: Vancouver, WA, USA Registered: Feb 2012
posted 03-02-2025 02:46 PM
I see that Blue Ghost is equipped with a NGLR (Next Generation Laser Retroreflector). Is there any estimate or timeline as to when "they" might start bouncing laser pulses off of it?
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 54300 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 03-02-2025 08:59 PM
I haven't seen a specific date, but Firefly Aerospace said that all 10 NASA payloads would be used during the one lunar day-long mission, so NGLR's first use should be sometime in the next two weeks.
quote:Originally posted by davidcwagner: What is maximum slope for landing?
I don't know if this is the maximum, but according to NASA planetary scientist Maria Banks in a discussion about choosing the landing site:
We had to take into account, of course, some of the requirements of the lander. So we wanted something that had very shallow slopes, less than five degrees.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 54300 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 03-03-2025 07:58 AM
Firefly Aerospace photo release
Rise and shine! Firefly's Blue Ghost lander captured its first sunrise on the Moon, marking the beginning of the lunar day and the start of surface operations in its new home.
Our Ghost Riders have already begun operating many of the 10 NASA payloads aboard the lander and will continue operations over the next two weeks and into the lunar night.
SkyMan1958 Member
Posts: 1406 From: CA. Registered: Jan 2011
posted 03-03-2025 05:43 PM
Congratulations to the Blue Ghost team on designing, producing and flying a top notch lander!!!
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 54300 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 03-04-2025 10:24 AM
Firefly Aerospace video
Watch Firefly land on the Moon!
After identifying surface hazards and selecting a safe landing site, Blue Ghost landed directly over the target in Mare Crisium. Our Ghost Riders have since downlinked our landing footage for the world to see — a historic moment on March 2 we'll never forget. We have Moon dust on our boots!
ApolloGuy792 New Member
Posts: 5 From: Monroe, CT, USA Registered: Jan 2022
posted 03-04-2025 11:01 AM
I'm glad that was made available for viewing (woke up in the middle of the night hoping for a live stream). Worth the wait!
Blackarrow Member
Posts: 3817 From: Belfast, United Kingdom Registered: Feb 2002
posted 03-04-2025 11:26 AM
Beautiful video with "magnificent resolution." Very well done, all at Firefly. Looks like the textbook way to do a lunar landing.
That said, it's just as well the video spoke for itself. Yet more of the usual cringeworthy corporate PR nonsense at the start of the video, and after six viewings, I'm still trying to decipher exactly what the Firefly PR guy said when announcing the landing. (I'm apparently not alone: whoever or perhaps whatever wrote the subtitles couldn't decipher his dialogue either!)
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 54300 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 03-04-2025 04:06 PM
Those are not PR guys...
At the beginning, the person talking about "the path to the stars..." is Jesus Charles, flight director for the Ghost in the Sky mission, addressing his team.
Later, the person delivering the landing announcement just before Mission Control erupts in cheers is Blue Ghost's chief engineer Will Coogan.
All cons[oles], chief engineer here on ops, y'all stuck the landing. We're on the moon.
As for the subtitles, those are computer generated by YouTube.
In other news, Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has imaged Blue Ghost on the moon.
The Firefly Blue Ghost lander is seen as bright pixel casting a shadow in the middle of the box (18.562°N, 61.810°E, -3650 meters elevation). The edge of Mons Latreille is visible in the lower left. Image is approximately 2600 meters wide in the center, north is to the right.
LRO was 175 kilometers east (19.294°N, 67.956°E) of the landing site when the NACs acquired this dramatic view of the landing site on 02 March 2025 at 17:49 UTC.
Blackarrow Member
Posts: 3817 From: Belfast, United Kingdom Registered: Feb 2002
posted 03-04-2025 06:37 PM
quote:Originally posted by Robert Pearlman: Those are not PR guys...
My apologies to Mr Charles for demoting him. His team did a magnificent job, but that little speech is still cringeworthy corporate PR nonsense [and "nonsense" is a euphemism to spare the blushes of sensitive souls.]
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 54300 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 03-04-2025 07:29 PM
Well, I hear it as a flight director being rightfully proud of his team and his company. If there was ever a time when being boastful was justified, it is when you have just landed on the moon.
Blue Ghost Riders, the path to the stars is no longer limited to nations alone. Firefly is building the road to the next frontier, with one mission and one dream at a time. Tonight, we reach just another mission milestone. Together we created a moment in history.
Headshot Member
Posts: 1388 From: Vancouver, WA, USA Registered: Feb 2012
posted 03-04-2025 07:47 PM
quote:Originally posted by Robert Pearlman: Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has imaged Blue Ghost...
I have plotted the Firefly Blue Ghost landing site (red dot) on this Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter image (found here). It is more of a vertical view and gives a better idea of how far from Mons Latrielle Firefly Blue Ghost landed. Mons Latrielle is 6.4km in diameter.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 54300 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 03-05-2025 09:50 AM
From artist Richelle Ellis (via X):
My Artwork Now Rests on the Moon.
On March 2, 2025, Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost successfully landed in Mare Crisium near Mons Latreille at 12:45 a.m. PST (8:45 UTC). Congratulations to Firefly Aerospace on this remarkable achievement!
I am deeply honored and grateful to Ben Haldeman (LifeShip) for this extraordinary opportunity. Through his vision and dedication, my Biospheres and Trees of Life drawings are now preserved on the lunar surface, part of a mission designed to endure for over a billion years.
This marks the second of several missions carrying my work to the Moon—and soon, into deep space. It is an incredible privilege to contribute to this historic endeavor. Thank you.
Blackarrow Member
Posts: 3817 From: Belfast, United Kingdom Registered: Feb 2002
posted 03-05-2025 02:13 PM
quote:Originally posted by Robert Pearlman: ...when you have just landed on the moon.
That speech appears at the start of the video and I took it to be a pre-landing speech, but the key question is whether his remarks were a joyful spontaneous message to his team, or (as I suspect) a scripted message.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 54300 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 03-06-2025 09:37 AM
Gene Kranz's "tough and competent" post-Apollo 1 fire speech was pre-written, too. It doesn't make it any less powerful.
It's okay, though, that you didn't like the speech. It wasn't aimed at you.
quote:Originally posted by Headshot: Is there any estimate or timeline as to when "they" might start bouncing laser pulses off of it?
Firefly didn't release details but as of today, the company reported that NGLR had "already met [its] mission objectives."
Blackarrow Member
Posts: 3817 From: Belfast, United Kingdom Registered: Feb 2002
posted 03-06-2025 10:56 AM
quote:Originally posted by Robert Pearlman: Gene Kranz's "tough and competent" post-Apollo 1 fire speech was pre-written, too. It doesn't make it any less powerful...
That's not what he says in "Failure is Not an Option." He wrote: "I started talking about my feelings and the words finally poured out. I didn't quite know where they came from..." But even if it was pre-written by Kranz, you're right that it was powerful, and it was emotional.
It's a pity Mr Charles did not simply talk from his gut instead delivering the kind of cringeworthy little corporate speech that we've been hearing so often when watching launches and other space achievements. I can't help thinking the Firefly team would have preferred him to say something like "Hey, guys, we've done it! We're on the Moon! Way to go, guys, you're the best!"
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 54300 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
The Blue Ghost lander (18.5623°N, 61.8103°E, -3650 meters elevation) is in the center of the image (below), easily spotted by its distinctive shadow that crosses a 12-m diameter crater. The vehicle is right on the rim of that crater.
Before-and-after image blink emphasizes the engine plume disturbance of the surface.
Blackarrow Member
Posts: 3817 From: Belfast, United Kingdom Registered: Feb 2002
posted 03-07-2025 12:12 PM
"Miles and miles and miles!"
Shortly after landing, Blue Ghost deployed four tethered Lunar Magnetotelluric Sounder (LMS) electrodes to the surface and an 8-foot mast above our top deck.
Headshot Member
Posts: 1388 From: Vancouver, WA, USA Registered: Feb 2012
posted 03-11-2025 04:14 PM
That drilling video is fascinating. Looks like it hit a shallow rock that then shattered. Is this the only drilling session, or will there be others. How deep do they hope to go?
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 54300 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 03-11-2025 05:10 PM
According to NASA, they are drilling to a depth of 10 feet (3 meters). Every 1.6 feet (0.5 meters), the system pauses and extend a thermal probe into the regolith.
I do not believe LISTER has the ability to move, so it can only drill in one spot, but as evident by the update, the work has extended more than a week (the video was taken on March 3).
Headshot Member
Posts: 1388 From: Vancouver, WA, USA Registered: Feb 2012
posted 03-14-2025 11:03 AM
If nothing else, the "diamond ring" eclipse image obtained by the Firefly Blue Ghost Mission 1 spacecraft show how far imagery has progressed since Surveyor 3 obtained the first eclipse photo taken from the Moon's surface in April 1967.
I hope there will be more.
Blackarrow Member
Posts: 3817 From: Belfast, United Kingdom Registered: Feb 2002
posted 03-14-2025 12:47 PM
That's exactly what I was thinking! Last year I wrote an article for an astronomy magazine about eclipses, transits and occultations imaged by spacecraft around the solar system. Perhaps I should have waited for Blue Ghost!
I hope they release images taken in "mid-totality" when the sun was most hidden by the Earth. Bearing in mind that the sun is barely covered by the airless Moon in a terrestrial total eclipse, and the Earth's disc when viewed from the Moon is 4 times the sun's diameter, I want to see how effective the Earth's atmosphere is in refracting the light. The 1967 Surveyor image suggests it might look like a circle of "Baily's Beads" but I suppose much may depend on weather conditions around the Earth. I also want to see if the solar corona is visible. The evidence from 1967 suggests that the ring of light might drown out the corona, but the Surveyor camera was fairly primitive.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 54300 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 03-16-2025 09:38 PM
Firefly's Blue Ghost 1 mission has come to its end:
Blue Ghost signing off with one final message from the Moon. Thank you for the unforgettable journey.
Mission mode change detected, now in Monument Mode. Goodnight friends.
After exchanging our final bits of data, I will hold vigil on this spot in Mare Crisium to watch humanity's continued journey to the stars. Here, I will outlast your mightiest rivers, your tallest mountains, and perhaps even your species as we know it.
But it is remarkable that a species might be outlasted by its own ingenuity. Here lies Blue Ghost, a testament to the team who, with the loving support of their families and friends, built and operated this machine and its payloads, to push the capabilities and knowledge of humanity one small step further
Per aspera ad astra! Love, Blue Ghost
The plaque on Blue Ghost with all of Firefly Aerospace employees' names:
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 54300 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
Posts: 54300 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 03-25-2025 12:22 PM
NASA release
NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Views Blue Ghost on Moon's Surface
NASA's LRO (Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter) imaged Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost Mission 1 lunar lander on the Moon's surface the afternoon of March 2, not quite 10 hours after the spacecraft landed.
Above: Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost Mission 1 lunar lander, which appears in this image from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter as a bright pixel casting a shadow in the middle of the white box, reached the surface of the Moon on March 2 at 3:34 a.m. EST. (NASA/Goddard/Arizona State University)
Blackarrow Member
Posts: 3817 From: Belfast, United Kingdom Registered: Feb 2002
posted 03-25-2025 07:03 PM
quote:Originally posted by Blackarrow: I hope they release images taken in "mid-totality" when the sun was most hidden by the Earth...
posted 01-07-2025 09:34 AM
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