ReutersA private spacecraft landed on the moon, becoming only the second commercial vehicle to reach the moon's surface.
Blue Ghost left Earth on January 15thAfter starting with the American company Firefly Aerospace with the intention of exploring the sea of crises, a huge crater, visible from Earth.
The project is the latest cooperation by the US space agency NASA and private companies.
Intuitive machines, another company, hope to land their Athens spacecraft near the South Pole of the Moon over the next few days.
The intuitive was the first private company to achieve a moon landing. His spacecraft Odysseus reached the moon on February 22 Last year.
However, the mission was short -lived when the spacecraft landed on the slope of a crater, broke some landing and stopped.
The blue ghost touched down smoothly as it was Orb the moon in the past two weeksS
The staff at the Firefly headquarters in Texas erupted in applause and applause when they were told that their landing was successful.
Simeon Barber, a planetary science researcher from the Open University, said the blue ghost was essentially the first successful private endeavor of the moon, since the vehicle was intact and responsive.
He said to the BBC breakfast: “(they) demonstrated technology for landing on the moon's surface, the species that was forgotten after the Apollo era when we had astronauts on the (lunar) surface.”
The importance of the moon for many private companies, said Dr. Barber, had to use it as a starting pad to explore the rest of the space.
“When we go to the moon, we can learn how to launch robotic tools into space (s) in the really harsh environment of the moon, which is hot and cold at times. It is very dusty, there is a lot of radiation.”
ReutersHe said that at one point, people would probably return to the moon's surface and explained that it was so long due to lack of funding.
The last time people step on the moon is December 19, 1972, During the mission Apollo 17S
“Apollo's missions were extremely successful,” explained Dr. Barber. “But they were the” touch and go “missions.”
Then the astronauts would be there for three days before they had to leave again, as the costs came across billions of dollars. “It's not sustainable,” he said.
B Barber said the belief now is that bringing private companies will help reduce costs as a result of commercial competition.
This can lead to more expensive landing and innovation that can extract resources from the moon, such as water for drinking astronauts.
The first private company to try to reach the moon was another US company, astrobotic technology.
They tried to reach the moon in January 2024, but their land had never reached the moon because of a suspected fuel leak and collided back to the ground.
Thehe Fiery origin meant that the spacecraft broke up In his last moments, before immersing himself in the South Pacific.