lunar landings: The United States is accelerating its return to the Moon, with two private lunar landers set to touch down within a week. Following more than five decades since the last Apollo mission, NASA is now turning to commercial partners to make lunar landings a regular part of space exploration.
The first of these missions, Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost Mission 1, is targeting a March 3 touchdown. Just days later, Intuitive Machines’ IM-2 mission will attempt its own landing on March 6.
These missions mark a bold step forward for NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program, a $2.6 billion initiative aimed at lowering costs and increasing Moon landings through private-sector innovation.
Blue Ghost Mission 1: Aiming for a Historic Lunar Landing
Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost lander, nicknamed “Ghost Riders in the Sky,” began its journey in January and is now approaching its final destination. The golden, hippopotamus-sized lander will attempt a soft landing near Mons Latreille, a volcanic formation in Mare Crisium, on the Moon’s northeastern near side.
Equipped with ten scientific instruments, Blue Ghost will conduct lunar soil analysis, test radiation-resistant computing, and demonstrate GPS-based navigation on the Moon. It is designed to operate for 14 Earth days, the length of a full lunar day.
One of its most exciting tasks is capturing high-definition images of a total lunar eclipse on March 14, when Earth will block sunlight from reaching the Moon’s surface. On March 16, it will also record a lunar sunset, providing key insights into the mysterious dust levitation observed by Apollo astronauts.
IM-2 Mission: Testing a Hopping Drone for Moon Exploration
Following Blue Ghost’s landing, Intuitive Machines will launch its IM-2 mission, featuring the Athena lander. This marks the company’s second lunar attempt, following last year’s historic but imperfect landing when the lander tipped over on touchdown.
This time, Athena has been redesigned for better stability. The lander, shaped like a tall hexagonal column, is about the height of a giraffe and is set to land at Mons Mouton, making it the southernmost lunar landing attempt ever.
Athena carries a groundbreaking payload, including:
- A drill capable of digging three feet below the surface to search for lunar ice.
- A beagle-sized rover that will test a Nokia cellular network for Moon communications.
- A hopping drone, named “Grace,” designed to explore underground lava tubes where future lunar habitats could be built.
If successful, Grace could revolutionize lunar exploration, moving across the Moon in ways that traditional rovers cannot.
The Challenge of Landing on the Moon
Unlike Earth, the Moon has no atmosphere, meaning spacecraft cannot use parachutes to slow their descent. Instead, landers must fire thrusters to reduce speed while carefully navigating rocky terrain.
Until recently, only five national space agencies had managed a successful soft landing:
- The Soviet Union
- The United States
- China
- India
- Japan
Last year, Intuitive Machines became the first private company to achieve this milestone. Now, NASA hopes to make private Moon landings routine through its CLPS program, which aims to reduce costs and speed up lunar missions.
What’s Next? NASA’s Lunar Plans Hang in the Balance
These missions come at a critical time for NASA. There is growing speculation that the agency may scale back or even cancel its Artemis program, which aims to return astronauts to the Moon.
Instead, some policymakers—including former President Donald Trump and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk—are pushing to prioritize Mars exploration over further Moon missions.
For now, NASA remains committed to the CLPS program, ensuring that private companies play a key role in the future of lunar exploration. With two Moon landings in a single week, the agency is making a strong case that the next era of space travel has already begun.
