In one small step toward lunar commercialization, the first-ever privately funded lander touched down March 2, 2025 on the moon’s surface.

The lander, named Blue Ghost, launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Jan. 15, 2025, then travelled more than 2.8 million miles before safely coming to rest in a 300-mile-wide basin near a volcanic feature called Mons Latreille on the moon.

First-Ever Private Lander

The lander was developed by Texas company Firefly Aerospace. Its mission is the first by five vendors to make 11 lunar deliveries under NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS). CLPS contracts thus far total $2.6 billion through 2028. NASA paid the Texas-based company $101 million for the delivery, plus $44 million for the science and tech on board. Such operations are intended to pave the way for further NASA exploration.

“We’re sending these payloads by working with American companies – which supports a growing lunar economy,” Nicky Fox, a NASA administrator, said in a press release.

Read More: Lunar Trailblazer and IM-2 Will Depart for the Moon in Search of Water

Samples and Experiments

The lander delivered 10 NASA science and technology instruments that will collect samples and perform experiments on the moon over one lunar day — about 14 Earth days. The surface operations include lunar drilling as deep as 10 feet to measure temperatures below the satellite’s surface, vacuuming up moon dust samples, and taking X-ray images. Equipment also includes a device to eliminate pesky lunar dusk, which has caked spacesuits and equipment in earlier lunar visits. The data will provide how space weather and other cosmic forces impact Earth.

The lander is also tasked with several photographic assignments. On March 14, 2025, it is scheduled to take high-definition pictures of a lunar eclipse when the Earth blocks the sun from the moon’s horizon. On March 16, 2025, it will photograph a lunar sunset. A key aspect of that imagery will be capturing how lunar dusk levitates due to the sun’s influence.

The lander will share some of this imagery via a blog. “Firefly is literally and figuratively over the Moon,” Jason Kim, CEO of Firefly Aerospace, said in a press release.

Are There Other Landers?

Thus far, only five countries have successfully landed on the moon: Russia, the U.S., China, India, and Japan. Another privately funded lander is scheduled to join Blue Ghost March 6, 2025 — but closer to the moon’s south pole. The company behind that project, Intuitive Machines, had an unsuccessful event previously last year when its lander broke a leg and tipped over.

Another commercial lander, funded by a Japanese company, also rode the same rocket into space with Blue Ghost. Like the Intuitive effort, this is the company’s second attempt after a crash in 2023.

Wreckage from a few dozen or so landers now litter the moon’s surface. NASA intends to propel two private landers to the moon a year over the next several years.

Read More: Two Lunar Landers Have Embarked On a Journey To the Moon

Article Sources

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Before joining Discover Magazine, Paul Smaglik spent over 20 years as a science journalist, specializing in U.S. life science policy and global scientific career issues. He began his career in newspapers, but switched to scientific magazines. His work has appeared in publications including Science News, Science, Nature, and Scientific American.