Firefly Aerospace, a market leading space and defense technology company, announced a $10 million contract addendum under NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative for acquisition of additional science and operational data collected beyond the initial contractual requirements for Blue Ghost Mission 1 – the first commercial mission to successfully land on the Moon. In total, Firefly collected nearly 120 gigabytes of data during transit, landing, and operations on the lunar surface.

“Firefly’s Blue Ghost mission operated on the Moon longer than any commercial mission, which allowed us to capture first-of-its-kind data during multiple phenomena on the Moon’s surface, including everything from sunrise to sunset and even a solar eclipse,” said Will Coogan, Blue Ghost Chief Engineer at Firefly Aerospace. “We look forward to sharing this wealth of data with NASA and the larger scientific community to better inform future robotic and human missions that enable NASA’s Artemis campaign.”

The scope of this data buy encompasses images captured by Firefly’s Blue Ghost lunar lander during its 45-day transit to the Moon and more than 14 days of surface operations. This includes the first high-definition images of a solar eclipse and sunset captured from the Moon’s surface, which could provide insight into outstanding questions regarding lunar dust levitation and the horizon glow phenomenon.

The data buy also includes communications data and transmit speeds from Blue Ghost’s S-band and X-band antennas, propulsion data from Firefly’s Spectre thrusters during critical burns and the final lunar descent, and other lander performance data. Firefly will also provide NASA with additional payload science data as well as lander and payload temperature data captured during a 500°F temperature delta on the Moon.

During Blue Ghost operations within the Moon’s Mare Crisium, temperatures peaked at 230°F during lunar noon, the hottest part of the lunar day, and quickly dropped to -275°F during a five-hour solar eclipse, which included two hours of totality when the Earth blocked the sun and cast a shadow on the lunar surface.

“Blue Ghost survived extreme temperature variations on the Moon that pushed us past our thermal models due to newly observed surface effects,” said Coogan. “The Firefly team demonstrated its ingenuity in operating through these extremes, developing creative solutions such as ‘operation parasol’ where we gimbaled our antenna to use it as a sunshade until temperatures dropped.”

These innovative solutions allowed the Firefly team to complete all mission objectives and gather critical data about the effects of lunar terrain along the way, including how sunlight reflections from nearby craters alter a lander’s thermal state and how lunar dust buildup affects component performance.

“This data is critical as our nation works towards building a sustainable human presence on the Moon,” said Coogan. “It can significantly improve thermal models and better prepare infrastructure, habitats, and humans for the challenging lunar environment.”

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