A privately owned lunar lander equipped with a drill, vacuum equipment and other experimental equipment for NASA has successfully landed on the moon, becoming the latest in a series of companies seeking to launch commercial operations on our celestial neighbor before sending astronauts.
Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost lander descended autonomously from lunar orbit on Sunday, aiming for the slopes of an ancient volcanic dome in an impact crater on the northeastern edge of the moon's nearside.
Confirmation of a successful landing came from the company's mission control center near Austin, Texas, after the incident, which occurred about 225,000 miles away.
“You're all stuck on landing. We're on the moon,” said Will Coogan, chief engineer for the Firefly lander.
The successful and stable landing makes Firefly, a startup founded ten years ago, the first private company to send a spacecraft to the Moon without crashing or falling.
Even states have failed, and only five have succeeded: Russia, the United States, China, India and Japan.
Half an hour after landing, Blue Ghost began transmitting images from the surface, the first of which was a slightly sun-obscured selfie.
Landers from two more companies are following Blue Ghost, with the next one expected to touch down on the Moon as early as this week.
Blue Ghost — named after a rare American firefly species — is notable for its size and shape. The low, four-legged lander is 6 feet 6 inches tall and 11 feet wide, giving it extra stability, the company says.
Launched in mid-January from Florida, it carried 10 experiments to the Moon for Nasa. The space agency paid $101 million (£80 million) for the delivery, plus $44 million (£35 million) for the science and technology research on board.
This is the third mission in NASA's commercial lunar cargo program, which aims to develop a lunar economy of competing private companies and conduct reconnaissance before astronauts arrive later this decade.
Firefly's Ray Allensworth noted that the lander overcame all the challenges, including large rocks, to land successfully. He said the team is still analyzing data to determine the lander's exact location, but all indications are that it landed within the 328-foot target zone in Mare Crisium.
The demo versions are expected to operate for two weeks, until the lunar day ends and the lander ceases its mission.
Sourse: breakingnews.ie
