WEB DESK: Two moon landers from Japan’s ispace and US-based Firefly Aerospace embarked on their lunar journeys on Wednesday with a rare dual launch by SpaceX, highlighting the intensifying global race to explore the moon.
ispace’s Hakuto-R Mission 2 marks the company’s second attempt to land on the lunar surface after a failed mission in April 2023. Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost is the third moon lander launched under NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program.
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Florida at 3:11 pm Japan time (0611 GMT), deploying Blue Ghost an hour later and ispace’s lander Resilience 30 minutes after that. The launch was met with cheers from ispace’s team, who celebrated the milestone.
Takeshi Hakamada, CEO of ispace, highlighted the mission’s significance: “A moon landing is not a dream but a reality… a success would be a huge step forward.”
Lunar Missions in Focus
Resilience is carrying six payloads, including a Micro Rover to collect lunar samples, and is set to land by May-June 2025 using a gravity-assisted trajectory. Firefly’s Blue Ghost, carrying 10 payloads, aims to touch down by March 2025. Both missions will last a single lunar day (approximately two weeks) and are not designed to endure the extreme cold of the lunar night.
The moon has become a hub of global interest for its potential to support astronaut bases and resource exploration. NASA’s Artemis program plans to return humans to the moon by 2027, while China aims to land astronauts by 2030, signaling a new era of competition in space exploration.
CLPS missions like Firefly’s are critical to preparing for future human landings, with NASA leveraging private sector innovation to pave the way for sustainable lunar exploration.
As private companies and nations push the boundaries of lunar science, the success of these missions will define the next chapter of humanity’s return to the moon.
