Nasa’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) successfully captured images of Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost Mission 1 lunar lander shortly after its historic landing on March 2, 2025. The images have been released as the mission concludes.
Blue Ghost is only the second private lander to soft-land on the Moon, touching down in the Mare Crisium region, near a volcanic cone known as Mons Latreille.
Photographed from around 109 miles away, the lander appeared as a bright pixel against the cratered lunar surface in images captured by the LRO, which has been studying the Moon since 2009.
Although it is difficult to tell apart in the pictures due to the lander’s small size, this imaging capacity demonstrates the orbiter’s sophisticated observational equipment.
The purpose of Blue Ghost’s mission, which was a component of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program, was to deliver ten scientific instruments to support the Artemis program’s lunar exploration endeavors.
Before its mission ended on March 16, 2025, Blue Ghost conducted a number of scientific missions on the Moon’s surface for more than 14 days after its successful landing.
Around 119 gigabytes of data, including important scientific discoveries and pictures taken by its onboard sensors, were sent down to Earth during this time.
The mission’s success demonstrates how private businesses are becoming more involved in space exploration.
According to NASA’s Nicky Fox, “Firefly’s Blue Ghost Mission 1 represents the longest surface duration commercial mission on the Moon to date.” As humankind seeks to establish a more permanent presence on the Moon and beyond, the data gathered will be useful for future lunar expeditions.
