back to article Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost lunar lander set to ride a SpaceX Falcon 9 to the Moon

SpaceX has notched up another order for a mission to the Moon, this time from Firefly Aerospace for a 2023 launch for its lunar lander, Blue Ghost. Firefly Aerospace was awarded a cool $93.3m last February to deliver a suit of payloads to the Moon in 2023 under NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS). The payloads, …

  1. hedge
    Happy

    What does Firefly want to deliver to the moon?

    A payload of suits?

    Or a suite of payloads?

    1. Graham Dawson Silver badge

      Re: What does Firefly want to deliver to the moon?

      As long as they watch out for Reavers.

    2. Chris G

      Re: What does Firefly want to deliver to the moon?

      I know a few suits who would benefit from delivery to the moon.

      1. The Oncoming Scorn Silver badge
        Pint

        Re: What does Firefly want to deliver to the moon?

        Every man there go back inside or we will blow a new crater in this little moon.

  2. Pascal Monett Silver badge

    "The company's Beta rocket can loft heftier loads"

    Except that it doesn't exist yet, so technically it can't lift anything right now.

    Firefly has a plan for a rocket that can lift heavier loads and is working on it. Whether that rocket ever comes into existence is another question entirely.

    Finally, I note with interest that Firefly's Alpha rocket is not in the list of orbital launchers maintained by Wikipedia. I wonder why ?

    1. Joe W Silver badge

      Re: "The company's Beta rocket can loft heftier loads"

      Because Wikipedia is not maintained, at least not in any sensible sense. There's a bunch of people hacking away at it, sometimes making a complete mess of a subject, even reverting your changes should you have more of a clue. At least it made it easy to spot which student simply regurgitated the Wikipedia page (and without citing it = insta fail)...

      1. This post has been deleted by its author

  3. Spherical Cow Silver badge

    Good value

    150kg to the Moon's surface for just $93m seems like a bargain!

    1. stiine Silver badge

      Re: Good value

      What if I meet the mass requirements but not the $93m requirement?

    2. John Doe 12

      Re: Good value

      Is this 150kg on Earth or on the Moon? Hope this is specified in the small print ;-)

      1. JassMan
        Trollface

        Re: Good value @John Doe 12

        I think you'll find all payloads are specified as mass for which the international unit is Kg. The gravity may change but the mass remains the same. If an engineer wants to talk about weight it will be as Newtons.

        1. John Doe 12

          Re: Good value @John Doe 12

          I did actually Google this before posting but misread the info :-) I gave you an upvote for the correct advice!!

  4. Andy The Hat Silver badge

    I love the wierdness of space contracts

    Give a company a contract to do something that they have no ability or experience in doing (landing stuff on the moon), when they haven't even launched a research rocket to LEO ...

    I'm not sure, as a company, how the hell you tender for a contract based on absolutely nothing ... or is that the point - think of a cost, multiply by the dogs age, add a 0 at the end and put that on the tender ... if it doesn't work you get paid until the money runs out ...

  5. Pen-y-gors

    Dies at night?

    Seems strange to send something all that way, and build it so that it can't survive through a lunar night. Surely some form of low-power hibernation mode is possible and not too heavy?

    1. John Robson Silver badge

      Re: Dies at night?

      You need to keep various items significantly above absolute zero, and since the lunar night involves exposure to the vacuum of space (the moon has insufficient atmosphere to make a difference) for over 300 hours without any solar input... Typical night time temperatures will be in the double digit kelvin range, that's properly cold.

      That's a significant amount of heating required.

      Specifically I don't think batteries like being that cold - but I am sure three are other components which would object as well.

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