NASA Firefly Blue Ghost Mission 1 Launch to the Moon: When, Where, and How to Watch

Firefly Aerospace's soon-to-launch Blue Ghost moon lander will help NASA better understand our home planet. (Image: NASA)

Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost moon lander is set to launch on Wednesday, January 15, bringing NASA’s innovative payloads to the lunar surface. The mission promises fresh insights into Earth's magnetosphere and its interaction with space weather.

Mission details and launch
The Blue Ghost lander is set to launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on Wednesday, 15 January, at 1:11 a.m. EST (0611 GMT). The launch will take place from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

LIVE: Get an update on the science investigations going to the Moon from NASA, @Firefly_Space, @SpaceX, and @SpaceForce aboard Blue Ghost Mission 1.
Liftoff is scheduled for 1:11am ET (0611 UTC) Jan. 15. https://t.co/MNlcVltaLg pic.twitter.com/In0KjmOGmA NASA (@NASA) January 14, 2025

Among the 10 payloads aboard Blue Ghost is NASA’s Lunar Environment Heliospheric X-ray Imager (LEXI). This innovative X-ray instrument uses nine lobster-eye micropore optical elements to monitor how solar wind interacts with Earth’s magnetosphere. Positioned on the moon, LEXI will provide a global view of the magnetosphere’s behaviour, tracking how it expands and contracts in response to solar wind.

"We expect to see the magnetosphere breathing out and in," said Hyunju Connor, an astrophysicist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. "It will shrink when the solar wind strengthens and expand when it weakens."

Insights and impact
LEXI’s observations could offer critical insights into space weather’s effects on Earth. Such data may help protect satellites and ground-based systems, including power grids.

The instrument has a history in space, having debuted as a technology demonstration, named STORM, aboard a sounding rocket in 2012. Refurbished as part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) programme, LEXI exemplifies cost-effective innovation.

Blue Ghost’s mission will follow a careful trajectory. After 25 days raising its Earth orbit, the spacecraft will perform a burn to head toward the moon. It will spend 16 more days adjusting its lunar orbit before landing. Once the dust settles, LEXI will begin its mission.

Joining the launch is the Resilience moon lander, built by Japanese company ispace. Both landers aim to push forward lunar science and exploration, offering a glimpse into new opportunities on the moon.