NASA has delayed its Artemis II crewed lunar mission due to technical issues encountered during a 'wet dress rehearsal' at Kennedy Space Center. The agency is now targeting early March for the launch, with an additional window on March 11 and further options in April if needed.
Firefly Aerospace has been awarded a $176.7 million NASA Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) contract to deliver five payloads to the Moon's south pole in 2029. Utilizing its Elytra orbital vehicle and Blue Ghost lunar lander, Firefly will enable payload operations that include evaluating resources, studying radiation and thermal environments, and deploying rovers and scientific instruments.
Firefly Aerospace has announced an agreement with the United Arab Emirates' Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre to deliver the Rashid 2 Rover to the far side of the Moon on Firefly's Blue Ghost lander. The rover will demonstrate lunar surface mobility and in-situ resource utilization technologies, while payloads from Australia, the European Space Agency, and NASA will also be included.
Firefly Aerospace has partnered with Blue Origin's Honeybee Robotics to provide the lunar rover for its upcoming mission to the Gruithuisen Domes on the Moon's near side in 2028. Firefly will deploy the Blue Ghost lander, which will then deploy the Honeybee Robotics rover to investigate the subsurface composition of the dome.
Firefly Aerospace successfully completed its first commercial Moon landing, Blue Ghost Mission 1, after performing over 14 days of surface operations on the lunar surface. The mission, which began on March 2, saw all 10 NASA CLPS instruments operate as planned, collecting over 119 GB of data.
Firefly Aerospace has been awarded an approximately $179.6 million NASA contract to deliver and operate six NASA instruments in the Gruithuisen Domes on the Moon's near side in 2028. As part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload (CLPS) initiative, Firefly will utilize its Blue Ghost lunar lander, Elytra Dark orbital vehicle, and a rover from an industry provider to investigate the unique composition of the domes.
Firefly Aerospace has agreed to deliver Fleet Space's Seismic Payload for Interplanetary Discovery (SPIDER) on its second lunar mission in 2026. The Blue Ghost lander will provide power and communications, enabling SPIDER to capture seismic data from the lunar surface.
Firefly Aerospace has completed the development and assembly of its Blue Ghost lander structure and fluid systems, a critical milestone for its first lunar mission slated to launch in 2024 under NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative. The company's Texas-based spacecraft facility played a key role in this achievement.