This year, private companies will take an important step towards lunar exploration. Already on January 15, SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket will launch two landing modules into orbit, which will be the beginning of a major scientific invasion of the Earth's satellite. It is part of NASA's program to send scientific instruments to the surface of the Moon to better study its features.
The Falcon 9 rocket will have two landing modules on board: Blue Ghost from the American company Firefly Aerospace and Resilience from the Japanese company ispace. These are not only technological achievements, but also important milestones for the space industry, because the scientific research that these modules promise opens up new horizons for the study of the Moon. Blue Ghost, a module of Firefly Aerospace, will first orbit the Earth for 25 days before heading to the Moon, where it will conduct scientific research on its surface for two weeks. However, when a moonlit night comes, the module will stop working due to the impossibility of charging the batteries. Resilience, in turn, will fly to the moon on a different trajectory and plans to land on the territory of the Cold Sea. This module carries a small lunar rover, Tenacious, which is going to collect samples of the lunar soil and conduct additional studies of the surface. The Resilience mission for ispace will be the second attempt to land a module on the Moon. Earlier, in April 2023, the company's first attempt at the Hakuto-R program ended in failure — the module crashed during a landing attempt. This year, the company aims to correct mistakes and achieve success.
Other companies are also planning their missions to the moon. For example, Intuitive Machines will send its Nova-C lander to the south polar region of the Moon this year to collect new scientific data. Their previous mission in February 2024 was already successful when the rover delivered instruments to the lunar surface near the Malapert A crater. Astrobotic, an American company, also plans to launch its Griffin module this year to perform important tasks as part of the CLPS program. The company failed to successfully launch the Peregrine lunar module last year, but they are planning another attempt. NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program is an important part of the space agency's strategic plans for lunar exploration. It not only promotes the development of private companies, but also helps prepare for the landing of astronauts on the moon in 2027. The moon should become an important stage on the way to deep space missions, in particular, to Mars.
This year, several private landing modules will go to the moon, which is an important step in the development of space technology and research. Missions by companies such as Firefly Aerospace, ispace, Intuitive Machines and Astrobotic open new opportunities for scientific research and training for future astronaut missions.
