SpaceX and NASA Prepare for Mid-January Launch of Blue Ghost Moon Lander

Although livestream details are yet to be revealed, updates are expected as NASA and SpaceX finalize plans for the event.

Joining Blue Ghost on its journey is the Resilience moon lander, developed by Japanese company ispace. This marks the company’s second attempt at a lunar landing following the crash of its Hakuto-R lander in April 2023.

Mission Overview

After launch, Blue Ghost will spend 25 days orbiting Earth before initiating a trajectory burn to reach the moon. Upon arrival, it will spend 16 days orbiting the lunar surface, preparing for an autonomous landing at Mare Crisium, a 460-mile-wide (740-kilometer-wide) basaltic plain created by an ancient asteroid impact.

If all goes as planned, Blue Ghost will begin transmitting high-definition images from the lunar surface within 30 minutes of landing. The lander will have 14 days of operation before lunar night depletes its solar power. Backup batteries are expected to provide an additional five hours of power.

Science and Technology Payloads

As part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program, Blue Ghost will carry 10 science experiments and technology demonstrations to the moon, marking the largest collection of NASA payloads on a CLPS mission to date.

Ryan Watkins, NASA’s program scientist for the Exploration Science Strategy and Integration Office, highlighted the significance of the mission during a recent briefing, stating, “The NASA payloads on this delivery represent the largest, in terms of quantity manifest, of NASA payloads on a CLPS task order to date.”

Key Payloads:

1. NGLR (Next Generation Lunar Retroreflector): Measures the Earth-moon distance with sub-millimeter accuracy and collects data on the moon's interior.


2. RAC (Regolith Adherence Characterization): Studies how lunar dust affects various materials, aiding future spacecraft and habitat designs.


3. LEXI (Lunar Environment Heliospheric X-ray Imager): Observes Earth’s magnetosphere during solar wind interactions, providing insights into geomagnetic storms.


4. LISTER (Lunar Instrumentation for Subsurface Thermal Exploration with Rapidity): Measures heat flow at different depths beneath the lunar surface.


5. EDS (Electrodynamic Dust Shield): Tests a method to repel lunar dust using electric fields, potentially protecting future equipment from dust damage.


6. RadPC (Radiation Tolerant Computer System): Demonstrates fault mitigation strategies for radiation-resistant computing in space.


7. LMS (Lunar Magnetotelluric Sounder): Explores the moon’s interior by studying electrical conductivity.


8. LPV (Lunar PlanetVac): Uses compressed gas to collect lunar regolith samples.


9. SCALPSS (Stereo Cameras for Lunar Plume-Surface Studies): Captures data during the landing to analyze how Blue Ghost’s engines interact with lunar dust.


10. LuGRE (Lunar GNSS Receiver Experiment): Tests the use of Earth’s Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) for lunar navigation.



NASA's Hyunju Connor emphasized the importance of the LEXI experiment, stating, “We expect to see the magnetosphere breathing out and breathing in for the first time. When the solar wind is very strong, the magnetosphere will shrink and push backward toward Earth, and then expand when the solar wind weakens.”

A Historic Lunar Delivery

If successful, Blue Ghost will be the second CLPS mission to achieve a lunar landing. The first, Intuitive Machines’ IM-1 Odysseus mission, made history on February 22, 2024, by landing near the Malapert-A crater.

Previous attempts have not been without challenges. Astrobotic's Peregrine lander failed in January 2024 due to a propellant leak and burned up upon reentry into Earth’s atmosphere.

The Blue Ghost mission represents a crucial step in NASA’s efforts to support lunar exploration and expand our understanding of the moon. With its suite of cutting-edge experiments, it has the potential to pave the way for future scientific breakthroughs and technological advancements.

By Azhar