Firefly shares video of spacecraft Blue Ghost's soft landing on Moon

Days after becoming only the second commercial entity to conduct a successful soft landing on the lunar surface, Texas-based Firefly Aerospace recently released footage of the moment its Blue Ghost lander touched down on the Moon.

The video was recorded by cameras onboard the lunar probe. This was also Firefly Aerospace's first Moon landing ever.

Blue Ghost video shows landing on Mare Crisium

The footage was shared by Blue Ghost after it successfully deployed an X-band antenna capable of transmitting troves of data and images to Earth, according to a statement by Firefly Aerospace cited by CNN. The video showed the moments leading to Blue Ghost's landing on a point within an ancient volcanic basin called Mare Crisium.

Watch the landing here:

Also Read : China targets 5% growth; plans to counter US trade war, boost consumption

NASA equipment delivered by Blue Ghost

The lander safely delivered a batch of 10 NASA science and technology instruments. The instruments will operate on the Moon's surface for one lunar day, which is equivalent to about 14 Earth days, the space agency said. The delivery of the instruments came as part of NASA's CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative and Artemis campaign.

The instruments have been designed to test and demonstrate lunar subsurface drilling technology, regolith sample collection capabilities, global navigation satellite system abilities, radiation tolerant computing, and lunar dust mitigation methods, NASA said in an official release. "The data captured will benefit humanity by providing insights into how space weather and other cosmic forces impact Earth," it added.

Loads of data downlinked

As per the latest information shared by Firefly Aerospace on X, the company has downlinked as much as 57 GB of data since Blue Ghost blasted off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on January 15 this year. Of the 57 GB, 30 GB of data was downlinked from the moment Blue Ghost touched down on the lunar surface.

Breakthrough experiment by NASA instrument

In a breakthrough achievement, LuGRE, one of the NASA payloads delivered by Blue Ghost, acquired and tracked Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) signals on the Moon, according to NASA's Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) programme. The outcome of the experiment suggests that GPS signals can be utilised by future lunar probes, SCaN said.

Also Read : Five Keep On Movin' 2025 Tour: How to get tickets as pre-sale goes live

FAQs

What is Blue Ghost?
Blue Ghost is a lunar probe that landed on the Moon on Sunday (March 2). With the landing, Firefly Aerospace, a Texas-based company, became only the second commercial entity to perform a successful soft landing on the lunar surface.

What payload did Blue Ghost deliver to the Moon?
Blue Ghost delivered a batch of 10 NASA science and technology instruments. The instruments will operate on the Moon's surface for one lunar day, which is equivalent to about 14 Earth days, as per NASA.