Two companies, Firefly Aerospace and ispace, are aiming to make the second and third successful private landings on the moon – and both are launching on the same Falcon 9 rocket
By Alex Wilkins
14 January 2025
An artist’s impression of Blue Ghost landing on the moon
Firefly Aerospace
Two private spacecraft aiming to land on the moon are set to blast off onboard a SpaceX rocket, in a sign of increasing commercial activity on the lunar surface.
Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost lander and ispace’s Resilience lander have both got a ride on the same Falcon 9 rocket, which is currently scheduled to liftoff on 15 January at 6.11am GMT (1.11am EST) from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Read more
Dozens of stars show signs of hosting advanced alien civilisations
Advertisement
The launch will be ispace’s second attempt at landing on the moon. Its first ended in failure when its Hakuto-R spacecraft crashed into the lunar surface in 2023. The Japanese company says it has since upgraded Resilience’s hardware and software to avoid the mistakes that led to this crash.
Meanwhile, US company Firefly Aerospace will be making its first attempt. The firm has a contract with NASA as part of the agency’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) programme, which pays private companies to achieve its scientific goals.
Resilience will carry six payloads to the lunar surface, including an experiment to produce food on the moon using microalgae, and a micro rover that will roam, analyse and photograph the landing area. Blue Ghost is set to carry a mixture of 10 private and public payloads to the moon, including a radiation-resistant computer, a drill that will measure how heat flows through the moon’s surface and a satellite receiver that will try to establish a permanent link with Earth’s GPS network.