Produced by: Mohsin Shaikh
Two private moon landers launched by SpaceX are now taking distinct paths toward lunar missions.
Firefly’s Blue Ghost lander will orbit Earth for 25 days, conducting systems checks and gathering data with its NASA payloads.
Blue Ghost will fire its engines to enter lunar orbit, arriving four days later to prepare for a Mare Crisium landing.
The solar-powered Blue Ghost will function for one lunar day (two Earth weeks) before lunar dusk ends operations.
Firefly will capture images of lunar sunset and study regolith reactions to solar influences, providing new insights.
Ispace’s Resilience lander is on a four-month energy-efficient route to the moon, gearing up for a longer mission.
Alongside its science gear, Resilience carries a "Moonhouse" model by Swedish artist Mikael Genberg to the lunar surface.
Resilience follows Ispace’s first lander, which reached lunar orbit in 2023 but crashed during its landing attempt.
Among Resilience's payloads is the Tenacious microrover, which will collect regolith under a NASA contract.
With its second lander, Ispace seeks to succeed where others failed, aiming for a historic lunar touchdown.