Firefly Aerospace selects SpaceX to launch its Blue Ghost lunar lander in 2023 on a Falcon 9 rocket.Blue Ghost will carry 10 payloads for NASA's CLPS program:businesswire.com/news/home/2021…
Firefly Aerospace Awards Contract to SpaceX to Launch Blue Ghost Mission to Moon in 2023May 20, 2021 10:05 AM Eastern Daylight TimeCEDAR PARK, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Firefly Aerospace Inc., a leading provider of economical and dependable launch vehicles, spacecraft, and in-space services, announced today that it has awarded a contract to SpaceX to launch its Blue Ghost lunar lander in 2023. Blue Ghost will be carrying 10 payloads for NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) task order 19D mission, in addition to separately contracted commercial payloads.Shea Ferring, Firefly Senior Vice President of Spacecraft, said, “Firefly is excited to fly our Blue Ghost spacecraft on the highly reliable Falcon 9, which will deliver NASA instruments and technology demonstration payloads that support NASA science goals and NASA’s Artemis program. The high performance of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 launch vehicle permits a lunar transit using minimal Blue Ghost propulsion resources, thereby allowing the lander to deliver more than 150 kg of payload to the lunar surface.”Firefly was awarded the CLPS 19D task order by NASA in February 2021 and has since made rapid progress on the Blue Ghost program. The team has key long lead items on order, production underway, and is conducting regular vision navigation test flights at Firefly’s one-acre Briggs, Texas lunar landscape site.“The Blue Ghost mission will include delivery of NASA payloads that will support scientific lunar research and will contribute to developing a sustainable presence on the Moon as part of the Artemis program,” said SpaceX Vice President of Commercial Sales Tom Ochinero. “We’re honored Firefly selected Falcon 9 for launch.”Tom Markusic, Firefly CEO, said “Firefly is excited to leverage the performance and reliability of Falcon 9 to propel Blue Ghost on the first phase of its journey to the Moon.”Blue Ghost (named after the rare Phausis reticulata firefly) will land at Mare Crisium in the Moon’s Crisium basin and operate on-board payloads through lunar transit, during lunar orbit, and on the lunar surface for a complete lunar day (about 14 Earth days) and well into the freezing dark of lunar night.Opportunities are open for early-career and seasoned professionals alike to work on Firefly’s lunar lander, launch vehicles, and various space-related projects.
Our Alpha rocket does not have the performance or payload volume needed to launch Blue Ghost - F9 does. Our future Beta launch vehicle will support Blue Ghost launch.
NASA Selects Firefly Aerospace for Artemis Commercial Moon Delivery in 2023NASA has awarded Firefly Aerospace of Cedar Park, Texas, approximately $93.3 million to deliver a suite of 10 science investigations and technology demonstrations to the Moon in 2023. The delivery, planned for Mare Crisium, a low-lying basin on the Moon’s near side, will investigate a variety of lunar surface conditions and resources. Such investigations will help prepare for human missions to the lunar surface.The award is part of the agency’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative, in which NASA is securing the service of commercial partners to quickly land science and technology payloads on the lunar surface. The initiative is a key part of NASA’s Artemis program. Firefly Aerospace will be responsible for end-to-end delivery services, including payload integration, launch from Earth, landing on the Moon, and mission operations. This is the sixth award for lunar surface delivery under the CLPS initiative.“We’re excited another CLPS provider has won its first task order award. With this initiative, we seek to develop ways for new science and technology development utilizing a service-based model,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for science at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “This allows U.S. vendors to not only demonstrate their ability to safely deliver payloads to our celestial neighbor, but also expand this capability for others who want to take advantage of this cutting edge approach to explore the Moon.”This is the first delivery awarded to Firefly Aerospace, which will provide the lunar delivery service using its Blue Ghost lander, which the company designed and developed at its Cedar Park facility. This facility also will house the integration of NASA and any non-NASA payloads, and also will serve as the company’s mission operations center for the 2023 delivery. “The payloads we’re sending as part of this delivery service span across multiple areas, from investigating the lunar soil and testing a sample capture technology, to giving us information about the Moon’s thermal properties and magnetic field,” said Chris Culbert, manager of the CLPS initiative at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.Mare Crisium, where Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost will land, is a more than 300-mile-wide basin where instruments will gather data to provide insight into the Moon’s regolith – loose, fragmented rock and soil – properties, geophysical characteristics, and the interaction of solar wind and Earth’s magnetic field. The payloads, collectively expected to total 207 pounds (94 kg) in mass, include:The Regolith Adherence Characterization (RAC), which will determine how lunar regolith sticks to a range of materials exposed to the Moon's environment during landing and lander operations. Components will be derived from the Materials International Space Station Experiment (MISSE) facility currently on the International Space Station.The Next Generation Lunar Retroreflectors (NGLR), which will serve as a target for lasers on Earth to precisely measure the distance between Earth and the Moon. The retroreflector that will fly on this mission also will provide data that could be used to understand various aspects of the lunar interior and address fundamental physics questions.The Lunar Environment Heliospheric X-ray Imager (LEXI), which will capture images of the interaction of Earth's magnetosphere with the flow of charged particles from the Sun, called the solar wind.The Reconfigurable, Radiation Tolerant Computer System (RadPC), which aims to demonstrate a radiation-tolerant computing technology. Due to the Moon's lack of atmosphere and magnetic field, radiation from the Sun will be a challenge for electronics. This investigation also will characterize the radiation effects on the lunar surface.The Lunar Magnetotelluric Sounder (LMS), which is designed to characterize the structure and composition of the Moon’s mantle by studying electric and magnetic fields. The investigation will make use of a flight-spare magnetometer, a device that measures magnetic fields, originally made for the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) spacecraft currently orbiting Mars.The Lunar Instrumentation for Subsurface Thermal Exploration with Rapidity (LISTER), which is designed to measure heat flow from the interior of the Moon. The probe will attempt to drill 7 to 10 feet (2 to 3 meters) into the lunar regolith to investigate the Moon's thermal properties at different depths.The Lunar PlanetVac (LPV), which is designed to acquire lunar regolith from the surface and transfer it to other instruments that would analyze the material or put it in a container that another spacecraft could return to Earth.Stereo CAmeras for Lunar Plume Surface Studies (SCALPSS 1.1), which will capture video and still images of the area under the lander from when the engine plume first disturbs the lunar surface through engine shutdown. Long-focal-length cameras will determine the pre-landing surface topography. Photogrammetry will be used to reconstruct the changing surface during landing. Understanding the physics of rocket exhaust on the regolith, and the displacement of dust, gravel, and rocks is critical to understanding how to best avoid kicking up surface materials during the terminal phase of flight/landing on the Moon and other celestial bodies.The Electrodynamic Dust Shield (EDS), which will generate a non-uniform electric field using varying high voltage on multiple electrodes. This traveling field, in turn, carries away the particles and has potential applications in thermal radiators, spacesuit fabrics, visors, camera lenses, solar panels, and many other technologies. The Lunar GNSS Receiver Experiment (LuGRE), which is based on GPS. LuGRE will continue to extend the reach of GPS signals and, if successful, be the first to discern GPS signals at lunar distances.The CLPS initiative is a key part of NASA’s Artemis lunar exploration efforts. The science and technology payloads sent to the Moon’s surface as part of the initiative will help lay the foundation for human missions and a sustainable human presence on the lunar surface.
CuriousAre any of these representative of real hardware designs?
In the video above, its mentioned that Blue Ghost will fly in about 18 months time, which I calculate to be in March 2024.
🌕Lunar Milestone: The first Blue Ghost Mission 1 payload, RadPC, has been delivered followed by a successful checkout & fit check. Developed by @montanastate, RadPC will demonstrate a radiation tolerant computer while in transit to the Moon & on the lunar surface. #ToTheMoon
🌕Lunar Milestone: Another payload delivery & successful checkout for Blue Ghost Mission 1. @NASA_Langley's Stereo Camera for Lunar Plume-Surface Studies will capture the impact of rocket plume on lunar regolith. Thanks for getting in the Halloween spirit with us Langley!
RadPC, a Blue Ghost Mission 1 payload, is one step closer to the #Moon! It's been tested aboard the ISS & satellites, but we'll provide the biggest trial yet by demonstrating its ability to withstand space radiation during our lunar mission. @montanastate
Montana State students deliver computer for NASA moon missionMarshall Swearingen, MSU News ServiceDECEMBER 1, 2022BOZEMAN — When two Montana State University students recently took a flight to Austin, Texas, they had arguably the most unique cargo of all the passengers: a Rubik's Cube-sized computer that's scheduled to land on the moon.Chris Major and Jake Davis, graduate students in MSU's Norm Asbjornson College of Engineering who have spent years helping to develop the specialized computer called RadPC, delivered the completed prototype on Oct. 19 to Firefly Aerospace's facility where the lunar lander is being readied for the 2024 NASA mission.“In the airport, a lot of people were tilting their heads to read the big stickers on our suitcase that said 'Warning, sensitive space equipment,'" said Major, who is earning his doctorate in electrical engineering. NASA gave them the stickers to help protect the equipment en route, he explained."It was definitely in our carry-on," said Davis, a master's student in mechanical engineering.The trip was the latest chapter in the decade-long development of RadPC, which was conceived by MSU researcher Brock LaMeres as a new way of coping with radiation in outer space that can disrupt the computers that control satellites and spacecraft.“This was a huge milestone for the project and also a really unique experience for the students,” said LaMeres, professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. He had planned to go on the trip, too, but had to back out unexpectedly, and the students were game for doing it themselves, he said. "More than three years of work was totally dedicated to this moment where these two students delivered a multi-million-dollar experiment to NASA."RadPC prototypes have been tested on high-altitude balloons reaching the edge of outer space, three times aboard the International Space Station and twice in self-contained satellites orbiting Earth, each time testing the technology's ability to withstand space radiation. In 2019, RadPC was one of 12 science and technology payloads that won a coveted spot to the lunar surface as part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services program, in which several landers developed by private companies will carry small payloads to the lunar surface. The moon journey will be RadPC’s biggest trial yet, said LaMeres, who recently founded a company, Resilient Computing, to begin commercializing the technology for use in actual space missions.The onboard computers that control spacecraft are traditionally made with oversized circuitry fashioned from special materials to withstand the high-energy radiation emitted by the sun and other celestial bodies, but that means the devices are more costly and cumbersome, LaMeres explained. In contrast, RadPC uses ordinary computer processors with complex MSU-developed software to create on-the-fly redundancy, allowing computations to continue even if a radiation particle strikes and disrupts the computer's sensitive memory.From the beginning, students have been instrumental in developing the technology, LaMeres noted. The project has involved more than 62 MSU undergraduates, 17 graduate students and nearly a dozen faculty, including staff engineers in the Space Science and Engineering Laboratory housed in the Department of Physics in MSU's College of Letters and Science.Davis started working on RadPC as an MSU undergraduate, when, in his junior year, he sought out research opportunities and landed in LaMeres's lab. The project motivated him to pursue a graduate degree at MSU, and his master's thesis has focused on preparing RadPC for the moon mission. He said the trip to Austin felt a bit like a culmination."It was pretty cool rolling up to this super nice building and walking through the high-security doors to meet with the Firefly and NASA people," Davis said. In a special clean room in the facility where the lunar lander will be assembled, the students donned gloves and gowns to prevent contamination while taking RadPC out of the suitcase for final testing."You get started on this project as a student, but by the end of it you see that you're doing real work that industry respects," Davis said."It’s really interesting seeing that industry side when you're a student," added Major, who started working on RadPC as a master's student at MSU and has devoted four years of his doctoral work to the project. "You get to see where you might be in a few years."The heavy involvement by MSU master's and doctoral students has been crucial to advancing RadPC over the years, according to LaMeres, and the work has offered a rare chance for students to work on such a major project — in many cases seeing a version of RadPC from start to finish for testing on the space station or a satellite.“It’s a pretty unique student experience," LaMeres said. "And for this part in particular, going to the moon, it’s really special.”Major agreed. "All the time we spent writing computer code and all that — now there’s a tangible product that's going to the moon," he said. "That’s the fun part.”“I'm very thankful to have worked on this project," Davis added. "It has been such a rewarding experience.”
MSU grad students Jake Davis, left, and Chris Major, right, in the MSU lab before delivering the RacPC prototype to Firefly Aerospace. MSU photo courtesy of Brock LaMeres.
Our Blue Ghost Lunar lander is one step closer to its mission to the moon, as the team received and fit-checked the 4th payload!
The Lunar GNSS Receiver Experiment (LuGRE) - a joint @NASA / @ASI_spazio payload built by Qascom - will demonstrate GNSS-based positioning, navigation & timing on the lunar surface. #ToTheMoon
The 5th payload for Blue Ghost Mission 1 has been received and fit-checked! The Lunar Magnetotelluric Sounder (LMS), led by @SwRI, will measure the Moon’s electrical and magnetic fields to better understand it's mantle and formation. Learn more here: fireflyspace.com/blue-ghost/
Blue Ghost 1 update: Payload #6 has arrived! The team successfully fit-checked @HB_Robotics’s Lunar PlanetVac that will collect, sort, and store lunar regolith on the surface of the Moon.
This important technology will demonstrate a fast, low-cost sample collection method that can be deployed in a matter of seconds. Learn more about our mission and the other payloads flying here: Blue Ghost Mission 1 - Firefly Aerospace (lnkd.in/gEEnAvHe) #ToTheMoon
Blue Ghost Mission 1 Update: The team is making incredible progress on our Spectre thrusters – designed and built in-house. We’ve completed 400+ seconds of runtime and 3,000+ starts on our combustion chamber at @MoogSDG facilities ahead of final engine qualification this summer.
Blue Ghost Mission 1 update: The Next Generation Lunar Retroreflector (NGLR) – payload #7 – has been successfully delivered and fit checked. NGLR will more accurately measure the distance between Earth and the Moon through a series of laser pulses.
This instrument will greatly improve data obtained from the Apollo era and help us better understand the inner structure of the Moon. #ToTheMoon
We're one step closer to a fully assembled lunar lander! Our harnesses have been qualified and installed on Blue Ghost. With vertically integrated structures & harnesses across all our vehicles, we're able to rapidly build and test the components in-house. More to come soon!
I recently visited @Firefly_Space to learn more about their first lunar lander mission, Blue Ghost Mission 1.Launch date: • The launch window provided by SpaceX is in the Q3 (barely into Q4) time frame • That will narrow to a 30-day period in May
