Firefly’s Blue Ghost lander captures image during sunset with Earth on the horizon. Photo: Firefly Aerospace

Firefly Aerospace achieved all objectives for Blue Ghost Mission 1, following the commercial Moon landing on March 2, the company announced on March 17. 

The mission operated for more than 14 days of surface operations and 5 hours into the lunar night, with the final data received around 6:15 p.m. CDT on March 16. Firefly Aerospace said this marked the longest commercial operation on the Moon.

Blue Ghost transmitted 119 GB of data to Earth, including 51 GB of science and technology data, exceeding mission requirements. 

Some payload missions completed include the following: LuGRE acquired and tracked global navigation satellite system (GNSS) signals, from satellite networks such as GPS and Galileo, on the way to and on the Moon’s surface. The Next Generation Lunar Retroreflector (NGLR) reflected laser pulses from Earth-based observatories, enabling precise measurements of the Moon’s distance and shape. The Lunar Environment heliospheric X-ray Imager (LEXI) captured X-ray images to study the interaction between the solar wind and Earth’s magnetic field, offering insights into how space weather, and cosmic forces impact Earth.

The lander captured imagery of a total solar eclipse on March 14 and imagery of the lunar sunset on March 16. Blue Ghost continued operations into the lunar night, capturing imagery to measure dust behavior changes after sunset.

“After a flawless Moon landing, the Firefly team immediately moved into surface operations to ensure all 10 NASA payloads could capture as much science as possible during the lunar day,” Firefly CEO Jason Kim said. “We’re incredibly proud of the demonstrations Blue Ghost enabled — from tracking GPS signals on the Moon for the first time to robotically drilling deeper into the lunar surface than ever before.”

Firefly said the company is preparing for annual lunar missions, with hardware assembly underway for Blue Ghost Mission 2, which will use the Blue Ghost lander and Elytra Dark orbital vehicle for operations in lunar orbit and on the Moon’s far side.