Firefly Aerospace, a private space company, has successfully landed its lunar lander on the surface of the moon, carrying a drill, vacuum, and other experiments for NASA.
On Sunday, the Blue Ghost lander landed near the slopes of an ancient volcanic dome in an impact basin on the northeastern edge of the near side of the moon, where it will look to carry out its mission.
The touchdown was confirmed by the company’s Mission Control, located outside Austin, Texas. Firefly Aerospace is just one of several companies that have made efforts to venture into space in recent years, partnering with NASA to help privatize space travel and exploration.
Despite being founded a decade ago, the company reported “We’re on the moon” on Sunday, adding that the lander was “stable.”
When it comes to NASA’s use of private companies, Firefly Aerospace’s CEO Jason Kim shared that unlike the Apollo moon landings, which were federally funded, private companies operate on limited budgets, meaning they can only learn from others carrying out similar missions.
“Every time we go up, we’re learning from each other,” Kim said.
Blue Ghost is now the first lander from a private company to touchdown on the moon without crashing or falling over. The company also joins a list of just five countries to successfully land equipment on the moon, including Russia, the US, China, India, and Japan.
However, that list could grow this coming week and possibly in the coming months, as two companies are expected to attempt landing landers on the moon. One of those companies is Intuitive Machine and its lander, which is expected to touch down on Thursday. That lander will look to explore the southern pole of the moon.
As for Blue Ghost, the 6-and-a-half-foot lander landed on the moon after launching from Florida in mid-January. It is expected to carry out 10 experiments for NASA while on the moon.
NASA shelled out $101 million for the delivery of the lander and another $44 million for the technology that’s on board and will be responsible for carrying out its experiments.
This marks the third mission to be a part of NASA’s commercial lunar delivery program. The program is meant to help drive competition between private companies who could help outfit future NASA missions.
Among the tasks that Blue Ghost will carry out includes using a vacuum to suck up moon dirt for analysis and a drill to measure temperatures under the moon’s surface.