Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost Lander Set for Historic Moon Landing Attempt on March 2nd

Firefly Aerospace is scheduled to attempt its first lunar landing with the Blue Ghost lander on March 2nd, targeting a touchdown on the Sea of Crises (Mare Crisium) at 3:34 a.m. EST. The landing will be broadcast live by NASA and Firefly Aerospace. Launched on January 15th aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9, Blue Ghost carries ten NASA experiments as part of the CLPS program, with a mission to study the lunar surface for two weeks. The landing sequence will commence approximately one hour prior to the target time, involving a deorbit and landing process lasting about 63 minutes. Autonomous onboard systems will manage the final descent, utilizing cameras and rangefinders to identify a safe landing spot. The mission aims to gather data on the lunar surface, including imagery of a total lunar eclipse on March 14th, and lunar sunset on March 16th. Blue Ghost is designed to operate for one lunar day (14 Earth days) before shutting down. A backup plan allows for a potential landing delay of one to two hours if initial descent burns are not executed perfectly.