A series of NASA scientific investigations and technology demonstrations are heading to our closest celestial neighbor aboard commercial spacecraft, where they will provide insights into the lunar environment and help explore future space missions under NASA’s Artemis campaign. It will test technology that will help astronauts safely land on the moon. .
Blue Ghost Mission 1, which carries science and technology on Firefly Aerospace’s first CLPS or commercial lunar payload service flight for NASA, launches from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, at 1:11 a.m. ET. It was launched from Complex 39A aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The company is targeting a moon landing on Sunday, March 2nd.
“This mission embodies the bold spirit of NASA’s Artemis campaign, a campaign driven by scientific exploration and discovery,” said NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy. “Each flight we participate in is an important step in a larger blueprint to establish a responsible and sustainable human presence on the Moon, Mars, and beyond. Demonstrations of scientific instruments and technology Every time we do this, we move closer to realizing our vision. We congratulate the NASA, Firefly, and SpaceX teams on their successful launches.”
Once on the lunar surface, NASA will test and demonstrate lunar drilling techniques, regolith (lunar rock and soil) sample collection capabilities, Global Positioning Satellite System capabilities, radiation-hardened computing, and lunar dust mitigation methods. I will. The data collected could also benefit humanity on Earth by providing insight into how space weather and other cosmic forces affect our home planet. .
“NASA is the world leader in space exploration, and American companies play a critical role in returning humans to the moon,” said Nicola Fox, deputy administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. Ta. “We learned many lessons during the Apollo era that will be reflected in the technology and science demonstrations on Firefly’s Blue Ghost mission 1 and will inform future science instruments, spacecraft, and most importantly, the lunar surface. We have ensured the safety and health of our astronauts, and we look forward to seeing the amazing scientific and technical data that Firefly’s Blue Ghost Mission 1 will provide in the coming days.”
As part of NASA’s modern lunar exploration efforts, delivering CLPS to the Moon is a long-term mission for humans to better understand the planet’s processes and evolution, explore water and other resources, and prepare for the first manned mission. and help support sustainable human lunar exploration. To Mars.
There are 10 NASA payloads on this flight.
Lunar Instrumentation for Subsurface Thermal Exploration with Rapidity (LISTER) characterizes heat flow from the Moon’s interior by measuring thermal gradients and conductivity in the Moon’s subsurface. Several measurements will be taken to a final depth of approximately 10 feet using pneumatic drilling techniques with a custom heat flow needle instrument at the tip. Lead organization: Texas Tech University Lunar PlanetVac (LPV) is designed to collect regolith samples from the lunar surface using bursts of compressed gas and pump the regolith into a sample chamber for collection and analysis by a variety of instruments. I am. Additional instruments will then send the results back to Earth. Lead organization: Honeybee Robotics The Next Generation Lunar Retroreflector (NGLR) will act as a target for a laser on Earth to precisely measure the distance between Earth and the Moon. The retroreflector flown on this mission will also be able to collect data to understand various aspects of the Moon’s interior and address fundamental physics questions. Lead organization: University of Maryland Regolith Attachment Characterization (RAC) determines how lunar regolith attaches to various materials exposed to the lunar environment throughout the lunar day. The RAC instrument will measure the rate of accumulation of lunar regolith on the surfaces of several materials, including solar cells, optical systems, coatings, and sensors, through imaging to determine their ability to repel or shed lunar dust. . The data collected allows the industry to test, improve, and protect spacecraft, spacesuits, and habitats from abrasive regolith. Lead organization: Aegis Aerospace Radiation Hardened Computer (RadPC) will demonstrate a computer that can recover from failures caused by ionizing radiation. Several RadPC prototypes have been tested aboard the International Space Station and Earth-orbiting satellites, but will now be able to withstand cosmic radiation during transit to the Moon and while passing through Earth’s radiation belts on the Moon’s surface. We plan to demonstrate the capabilities of computers. Lead organization: Montana State University Electrodynamic Dust Shield (EDS) is an active dust mitigation technology that uses electric fields to move and prevent dangerous lunar dust from accumulating on the surface. EDS technology is designed to lift, transport, and remove particles from surfaces with no moving parts. Multiple tests will demonstrate the feasibility of self-cleaning glass and radiator surfaces on the lunar surface. If the dust is not deposited on the surface during landing, EDS has the ability to re-deposit the dust using the same technology. Lead organization: NASA’s Kennedy Space Center’s Lunar Environment-Heliospheric X-ray Imager (LEXI) takes a series of X-ray images to study the interaction of the solar wind and Earth’s magnetic field, which causes geomagnetic disturbances and storms. I will. The instrument, which will be deployed and operated on the lunar surface, will provide the first global images showing the edges of Earth’s magnetic field, providing important insights into how space weather and other cosmic forces surrounding Earth affect the planet. You can gain great insight. Lead organizations: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Boston University, Johns Hopkins University The Lunar Magnetic Surveyor (LMS) characterizes the structure and composition of the Moon’s mantle by measuring electric and magnetic fields. This study will help elucidate the moon’s thermal structure and thermal evolution, and understand how the moon cooled and chemically differentiated after its formation. Lead organization: Southwest Research Institute’s Lunar GNSS Receiver Experiment (LuGRE) acquires signals from the Global Navigation Satellite System constellation, specifically GPS and Galileo, during transit to, during lunar orbit, and on the lunar surface. and demonstrate the possibility of tracking. If successful, LuGRE will be the first pathfinder for future lunar probes to autonomously and accurately estimate position, velocity, and time using existing Earth-based navigation constellations. Lead organization: NASA Goddard, Italian Space Agency The Stereo Camera for Lunar Plume Surface Studies (SCALPSS) uses stereo imaging photogrammetry to assess the impact of rocket plumes on the lunar regolith as the lander descends to the lunar surface. Capture impact. High-resolution stereo images can help create models that predict lunar regolith erosion. This is a critical task because larger and heavier payloads will be delivered to the moon in close proximity to each other. This equipment also flew on Intuitive Machine’s first CLPS delivery. Lead organization: NASA’s Langley Research Center
“With 10 NASA science and technology instruments launching to the Moon, this is the largest CLPS delivery to date, and I’m proud of the team that got us this far.” Commercial Moon said Chris Calvert, program manager for payload services. Efforts at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. “We plan to follow this latest CLPS delivery with many more in 2025 and beyond. U.S. innovation and interest in the Moon continues to grow, and NASA has already committed to 11 CLPS deliveries. We plan to continue flying twice a year.”
Firefly’s Blue Ghost lander aims to land near a volcanic formation called Mont Latreille within Mare Crisium, a basin more than 300 miles wide in the northeast quadrant of the moon’s near side. NASA science on this flight will collect valuable scientific data to study Earth’s closest neighbor and help pave the way for the first Artemis astronauts to explore the moon’s surface later this decade .
Learn more about NASA’s CLPS initiative below.
https://www.nasa.gov/clps
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Amber Jacobson / Karen Fox
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
amber.c.jacobson@nasa.gov / karen.c.fox@nasa.gov
Natalia Liushek / Nilufar Ramzi
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
nataila.s.riusech@nasa.gov / nilufar.ramji@nasa.gov
Antonia Jaramillo
Kennedy Space Center, Florida
321-501-8425
antonia.jaramillobotero@nasa.gov
