A lunar lander developed by a company is expected to head to the moon as part of a NASA program. Anyone who wants can watch live.
The American space company “Firefly Aerospace” was originally founded as “Firefly Space Systems” by an engineer who had previously worked for NASA, SpaceX, Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic. The name of the company is said to refer to the well-known sci-fi series. As a result of legal disputes with Virgin Galactic over the alleged use of allegedly stolen trade secrets, the company had to file for bankruptcy. A Ukrainian investor bought assets, formed the current company with a changed name and increased the number of employees. The investor sold his shares again in 2022, probably to give the company better chances of awarding US government contracts.
The company designs and developed rockets and a lunar lander. Originally, they were working on a so-called aerospike engine for a launch vehicle. Such engines should be able to adapt more variably to pressure conditions. Above all, this means they should generate thrust from fuel much more efficiently than conventional rocket engines. The technology of aerospike engines, whose development began in the 1950s, is not yet ready for the market and the theoretical efficiency gains compared to conventional engines are dwindling due to their technical progress. The design of the current “Firefly Alpha” rocket is therefore rather classic and also uses a conventional engine.
Moon landing as part of the “Commercial Lunar Payload Services”
An unmanned lunar lander from “Firefly Aerospace” is expected to launch to the moon tomorrow. This is done within the framework of the so-called „Commercial Lunar Payload Services“program, in which several other companies also take part on behalf of NASA. The “Blue Ghost” lunar lander is scheduled to take off on board a “Falcon 9” rocket on January 15th at 7:11 a.m. Central European Time. NASA will broadcast the launch and a corresponding supporting program live. The transit to the moon is expected to last approximately 45 days, and the mission duration on the moon is approximately two weeks. The lander is scheduled to land in Mare Crisium as part of this “Blue Ghost Mission 1”.
There are ten NASA “payloads” on board the lunar lander, which are intended to be used for research on the one hand and as technology demonstrators for the preparation of further lunar missions on the other. In addition to “Blue Ghost Mission 1,” other missions are already planned for NASA. “Blue Ghost Mission 2” is supposed to land on the far side of the moon in 2026 and put a satellite into lunar orbit that will serve as a relay station for data transmission for future flights. Another mission, “Blue Ghost Mission 3”, is announced for 2028.
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Source: www.digitalfernsehen.de
