A SpaceX rocket is set to launch towards the Moon with not one, but two lunar landers on 15 January 2025.
The launch onboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is currently scheduled for 06:11 GMT (01:11 EST) from Cape Canaveral and will be live streamed.
Both Moon landers were built by private spaceflight companies – Blue Ghost from US Firefly Space, and Resilience from Japan’s ispace.
Both spacecraft are stocked with scientific experiments they will deploy once on the surface - if they make it there in one piece, that is.
There has been a long line of private landers that have attempted to land on the Moon in the last few years.
Almost all have ended in complete failure, including a previous attempt by ispace.
The first ‘successful’ private lander was Initiative Machine’s Odysseus, which landed on the surface on 22 February 2024, but even this broke one of its legs and fell over.
Hopefully at least one of these two attempts will meet with more success.
Blue Ghost from Firefly Space
The first spacecraft released from the SpaceX rocket after launch will be the moon lander from Firefly Space, Blue Ghost, as part of the evocatively named ‘Ghost Riders in the Sky’ mission.
The spacecraft will spend 25 days orbiting Earth before heading towards the Moon, touching down on the lunar surface in late March.
Blue Ghost is part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative. The programme commissions private companies to carry experiments to the Moon in the run up to the Artemis missions, which aims to return humans to the surface of the Moon.
The lander carries 10 experiments, including PlanetVac, a novel system for sampling the lunar soil, known as regolith. Rather than using a complex mechanical arm or drill, PlanetVac pneumatically sucks up the dust, which is then sorted using a system of gas jets and sieves.
There are also experiments to test the navigation system, radiation tolerant computing and even a shield to keep away the highly abrasive lunar dust.
Blue Ghost will operate on the Moon’s surface for a full lunar day (14 Earth days).
When the sun finally begins to set on the mission, the lander will photograph the sight aiming to monitor how the regolith acts during the dusk period.
The spacecraft will operate for a further few hours into the night before finally powering down.
Resilience from ispace
While a ghost may be the first spacecraft to leave the rocket, it will be followed by a phoenix rising from the ashes of a previous failure.
The second moon lander carried on the SpaceX rocket is the Resilience lander from Japanese company ispace.
The lander is accompanied by a micro rover, Tenacious.
The pairs resolute names stem from the fact this is the company’s second mission to the Moon, after the first, Hakuto-R, crashed in February 2023 following a fault with the spacecraft’s altimeter.
Resilience is heading towards Mare Frigoris in the Moon’s northern hemisphere.
ispace’s lander carries several science experiments, including a module filled with algae to test how food might be produced on the Moon, a water electrolysis experiment and a deep space radiation probe.
The spacecraft will also carry a small model of a red house in the Swedish style, created by artist Mikael Genbery.
Doubtless though, the most anticipated part of the mission is the Tenacious micro rover, built with the help of the Luxembourg Space Agency via ESA.
Measuring just 26 cm tall, 31.5cm wide and 54cm long, the rover weighs just 5kg.
It is equipped with a front facing camera that will capture images of the lunar surface, with commands relayed to it via the main lander.
If successful, it will be the first private rover ever deployed on another world.
How to watch the launch
NASA will live stream the SpaceX launch of the Moon landers Blue Ghost from Firefly Space and ispace’s Resilience.
You can watch the live stream below from 05:30 GMT (00:30 EST).
