Next month, two private moon landers will launch on the same SpaceX rocket if all goes as planned.
Ispace announced that its second moon mission will launch on the Falcon 9 rocket along with Blue Ghost, a lunar lander from Firefly Aerospace.
The launch will take place from Florida’s Space Coast in mid-January 2025.
Ispace Founder and CEO Takeshi Hakamada stated, “Today, we are excited to announce that, in approximately one month, ispace’s historic Mission 2 will be launching and we will make our second attempt to land on the moon.”/p>
“As organizations, companies, and missions around the world are aiming for the moon, ispace will continue to capitalize on our achievements during Mission 2, to lead the world in the development of the lunar economy,” he added. “We hope you will join us. See you on the moon!”
Related: Japan’s ispace will fly a tiny European-built lunar rover to the moon this year (photo)
In its previous attempt in April 2023, the company’s Mission 1 failed to land due to an issue with an altitude sensor.
For Mission 2, a lander named Resilience will be sent to Mare Frigoris with various payloads.
Resilience will attempt a landing at Mare Frigoris four to five months after launch. If successful, the lander will operate on the lunar surface and deploy Tenacious, a microrover.
The Falcon 9 rocket will carry both Resilience and Firefly’s Blue Ghost lander.
Blue Ghost’s first mission, named Ghost Riders in the Sky, will deliver science instruments and technology demonstrations to the lunar surface for NASA.
If successful, Resilience or Blue Ghost will make history as just the second private spacecraft to land on the moon.
