Firefly's Blue Ghost Prepares for Lunar Landing Attempt as NASA's Lunar Trailblazer Mission Launches Thermal Imaging Camera to Map Lunar Water

Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost lander is set for a lunar landing attempt on March 2, following successful maneuvers in lunar orbit after launching on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on January 15. The mission, part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program, aims to deliver science payloads to the moon, studying the lunar regolith, radiation environment, and solar wind. Blue Ghost aims to be the second private lander to soft-land on the moon, operating for about 14 Earth days. Separately, a thermal imaging camera from the University of Oxford launched as part of NASA's Lunar Trailblazer mission on February 26. The Lunar Trailblazer will map the surface temperature and composition of the lunar surface to identify water sources, including in permanently shadowed craters at the moon's South Pole. The Lunar Thermal Mapper (LTM) will work with NASA/JPL's HVM3 to create detailed maps of lunar water, potentially guiding future robotic and human missions. The mission seeks to understand the origins of lunar water and its potential uses.