ORLANDO, Florida/TOKYO, Jan 15 (Reuters) - Two lunar landers, one from Japan's ispace and the other from U.S. aerospace company Firefly, set off on their space missions on Wednesday as part of SpaceX's unique double moonshot launch, highlighting the global interest in exploring the lunar surface.
Japanese lunar exploration firm ispace launched its Hakuto-R Mission 2, aiming for a second try at landing on the moon after a prior attempt in April 2023 was unsuccessful due to an issue in its final moments.
Texas-based Firefly Aerospace launched its inaugural moon lander, Blue Ghost, becoming the third entity to deploy a moon lander under NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program.
Approximately 300 ispace personnel, along with their families and partners, celebrated as SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket carrying the landers took off from Florida at 3:11 p.m. Japan time (0611 GMT). Blue Ghost was released as planned about an hour post-launch, followed by ispace's lander Resilience about 30 minutes later.
Following the separation, ispace CEO Takeshi Hakamada commended the company's perseverance following the setback in 2023, stating, "A moon landing is not a dream but it has become a reality … and a success would be a huge, huge step forward for ispace."
Intuitive Machines' moon landing last year marked the first successful private company mission under NASA's CLPS program. An earlier attempt by CLPS member Astrobotic's lander was unsuccessful.
Countries and private firms worldwide have turned their attention to the moon in recent years due to its potential for hosting astronaut bases and valuable resources, making it a stage for national pride and geopolitical competition akin to the historic space race era.
Resilience carries $16 million worth of customer missions and six payloads, including an in-house "Micro Rover" for collecting lunar samples, as shared by ispace Executive Business Director Jumpei Nozaki.
Resilience is expected to land on the moon's surface around May-June, utilizing a trajectory relying on Earth and moon's gravity in a series of flybys, similar to Japan's SLIM mission.
Firefly's Blue Ghost aims to reach the moon around March 2, carrying payloads from various NASA-funded customers and one from Blue Origin-owned Honeybee Robotics.
Both landers' missions will endure a full lunar day, lasting about two weeks, but will not survive the extreme cold lunar nights with temperatures dipping to around minus 200 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 128 Celsius).
NASA intends to return humans to the moon by 2027 - potentially later - for the first time since 1972. China plans to put its own crews on the lunar surface by 2030 after a series of robotic missions.
CLPS missions, like Firefly's Blue Ghost, play a vital role in studying the moon's surface and fostering private interest in lunar exploration before NASA's planned human missions using SpaceX's Starship and beyond.
However, changes to NASA's Artemis program could be on the horizon with the upcoming administration of Donald Trump, who aligns with SpaceX CEO Elon Musk's lunar vision.
Nicky Fox, head of NASA's science mission directorate overseeing CLPS, stressed the agency's commitment to lunar exploration, stating, "We've invested in going to the moon and I think everybody wants us to go back to the moon... The great thing about NASA science - we do amazing science wherever we go."