Abdelrahman
Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost lunar lander is now on its way to the moon after successfully igniting its engines to exit Earth’s orbit.
On February 8, Firefly announced via the social media platform X: “The Blue Ghost has completed a Trans Lunar Injection burn, effectively breaking free from Earth’s gravitational influence and embarking on a four-day journey to lunar orbit.”
The lander was launched as part of the “Ghost Riders in the Sky” mission on January 15, aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, alongside the Japanese company ispace’s Resilience moon lander. Both spacecraft had been circling Earth, gearing up for their lunar journey.
On February 9, Blue Ghost executed a trajectory-correction maneuver to adjust its course and ensure a successful entry into the moon’s orbit.
In the coming days, Blue Ghost is expected to reach a high lunar orbit before beginning its descent preparations.
According to Firefly, “Once in lunar orbit, we plan to spend about 16 days before starting Blue Ghost’s descent. This timeframe allows us to fine-tune our navigation systems and continue conducting scientific operations on behalf of NASA.”
Blue Ghost has successfully “merged” onto the highway to the Moon! After a successful Trans Lunar Injection burn, our lander has exited Earth’s orbit and is now en route to the Moon’s orbit. Following that, we’ll spend about 16 days in lunar orbit before commencing Blue Ghost’s descent. This… pic.twitter.com/lhhEMurIPTFebruary 9, 2025
The target landing site for the lander is within Mare Crisium, also known as the “Sea of Crises,” a prominent basin situated on the moon’s near side.
Blue Ghost’s mission is part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative, which combines commercial landers with NASA scientific payloads aimed at exploring the lunar surface. The lander’s scientific objectives include subsurface drilling, sample collection, and X-ray imaging to study Earth’s magnetic field and tackle dust mitigation challenges.
