Blue Ghost 1 Mission Landing Supported by Rocket Lab Software
MAX Flight and MAX Ground Data Software Suite Guided the Spacecraft to a Soft Landing
The successful Moon landing of Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost Mission 1 was supported by Rocket Lab’s MAX Flight and MAX Ground Data Software suites. The modular and autonomous proven flight software provided commanding, telemetry, autonomous sequencing, attitude determination, guidance, navigation, control, fault protection and more through all mission phases, including descent and landing.
“Congratulations to the Firefly team for the successful landing of the Blue Ghost 1 mission, a remarkable accomplishment achieved by few."
Kyle Andringa, Rocket Lab
Rocket Lab’s Mission Operations Center in Littleton, Colorado, served as a remote and backup operations center for Firefly’s Texas home base. The Company’s spacecraft operations team worked alongside Firefly’s Blue Ghost operations team in both Colorado and Texas, performing orbit determination, planning maneuvers, generating commands, and monitoring the lander’s onboard guidance, navigation, and control system health throughout the orbital and landing phases of the mission.
Additionally, Rocket Lab provided three high-efficiency solar power assemblies, mounted on the lander’s sides and top deck, providing 400 W of power over the mission’s 1,470 operational hours.
“Congratulations to the Firefly team for the successful landing of the Blue Ghost 1 mission, a remarkable accomplishment achieved by few," said Kyle Andringa, Rocket Lab’s Senior Director Space Systems Software. "Rocket Lab is honored to support this mission with our flight-proven space software and state-of-the-art components.”
Firefly’s Blue Ghost mission is advancing lunar science and exploration by delivering state-of-the-art instruments and technology demonstrations to the Moon as part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program.
