Blue Ghost Firefly becomes the second private spacecraft with the landing of the moon

A private spacecraft landed on the moon, becoming only the second commercial vehicle to get to the moon’s surface.

A blue ghost left the land on January 15After launching the American firm Firefly Aerospace with the intention to study the sea of ​​crises, a huge crater that is visible from the ground.

The project is the latest cooperation on the part of the US space agency and private companies.

In the next few days, the intuitive cars, another firm, hopes to land with its spacecraft aton near the South Pole of the Moon.

Intuitively became the first private company to reach the lunar landing. Its spacecraft February 22 Odysseus reached the moon Last year.

However, the mission was short -lived when the spacecraft landed on the slope of the crater, broke several landing devices and turned it off.

The blue ghost smoothly touched orbiting the moon for the past two weeks.

Firefly staff staff in Texas broke out and applause when they were told that their landing was successful.

D -R Simeon Barber, researcher of the planetary science from the open university, said the blue ghost was essentially the first successful private enterprise for the moon, as the vehicle was pristine and responsive.

He said the BBC breakfast: “(They) demonstrated the landing technology on the surface of the moon, which was forgotten after Apollo’s era when we had astronauts on (lunar) surface.”

The importance of the moon for many private firms, said D -Rar Barber, was to use it as a starting platform to study the rest of the space.

“Going to the moon, we can learn how to manage robotic tools in space (and) in the truly harsh moon, which is sometimes hot and sometimes cold. It is very dusty, there is a lot of radiation.”

He said that at some point, people would probably return to the lunar surface and explained that it was so long because of the lack of funding.

Last time people stepped on the moon was December 19, 1972, During the mission Apollo 17.

“Apollo’s missions were very successful,” Dr. Barber explained. “But they were” touching and go “missions”.

Then the astronauts would be there for three days before leaving again, as the costs went for billions of dollars. “It’s not stable,” he said.

Dr. Barber said the conviction was that the attraction of private companies in the fold would help reduce the costs as a result of commercial competition.

This can lead to cheaper landings and innovations that can extract resources from the moon, such as the water drinking water.

The first private company that tried to get to the moon was another American firm, Astrobotic Technology.

They tried to reach the moon in January 2024, but their land never reached the moon with the suspected fuel leak and crashed back to the ground.

A Fire downhill meant that the spacecraft crashed In the last minutes before you plunge into the South Pacific.