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[00:00.04]Two private spacecraft are on their way

[00:03.80]to the moon to carry out separate missions.

[00:08.16]The landers launched January 15

[00:12.24]from the American government's

[00:14.48]Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

[00:17.76]The private company SpaceX

[00:21.32]used its Falcon 9 launch vehicle

[00:24.96]to fly the landers into space.

[00:28.44]The two separated from Falcon 9

[00:32.00]about one hour into the flight.

[00:35.12]Mission leaders said the launch went exactly

[00:39.36]as planned, with no problems reported.

[00:43.12]The trip to the moon will take some time.

[00:47.04]One spacecraft is expected to land

[00:50.32]on the lunar surface in early March,

[00:53.56]while the other should touch down

[00:56.12]in late May or early June.

[00:59.48]In February 2024, the first private spacecraft

[01:05.20]completed the first U.S. moon landing

[01:08.64]in more than 50 years.

[01:11.36]The lander, called Odysseus,

[01:15.00]was developed by the Texas-based company

[01:18.60]Intuitive Machines.

[01:20.88]The spacecraft experienced some technical problems

[01:25.92]but was able to carry out several science experiments

[01:30.32]before powering down permanently on the moon in late March.

[01:36.28]For this current mission, Texas-based

[01:40.08]Firefly Aerospace developed Blue Ghost,

[01:44.60]one of the two landers launched.

[01:48.24]The other, named Resilience,

[01:51.24]belongs to Japanese company ispace.

[01:54.96]Both are designed to collect data and materials

[01:59.64]to support several planned moon missions

[02:03.44]– some including astronauts – in coming years.

[02:08.12]The Blue Ghost lander is targeting a landing site

[02:13.20]near a volcanic structure called Mons Latreille.

[02:17.96]It is a 480-kilometer basin

[02:22.28]that sits in the northeast quarter

[02:24.92]of the near side of the moon.

[02:27.60]The American space agency NASA

[02:31.36]says the 2-meter-tall Blue Ghost

[02:34.84]is carrying 10 NASA science

[02:37.96]and technology instruments.

[02:40.84]They aim to "gather valuable scientific data

[02:45.44]studying Earth's nearest neighbor,"

[02:49.04]the agency said.

[02:51.04]NASA's Artemis program

[02:54.04]aims to send astronauts

[02:56.16]to the moon for the first time

[02:58.60]since the Apollo 17 mission in 1972.

[03:03.64]The next planned flight in that program

[03:07.76]is Artemis II,

[03:09.48]which is set to launch in April 2026.

[03:14.08]In that mission, four astronauts will

[03:17.84]fly NASA's Orion spacecraft

[03:21.00]more than 400,000 kilometers

[03:24.68]on a trip around the moon.

[03:27.56]Nicola Fox is the associate administrator

[03:31.96]for NASA's Science Mission Directorate

[03:35.64]in Washington D.C.

[03:38.24]She said in a statement the agency's

[03:41.80]cooperation with private companies

[03:45.12]is "a critical part

[03:47.00]of bringing humanity back to the moon."

[03:50.84]Fox added that NASA chose the new experiments

[03:55.72]partly because of information learned

[03:58.80]from NASA's Apollo space program,

[04:02.28]which began in the 1960s.

[04:05.80]She said the current mission seeks to ensure

[04:10.12]"the safety and health

[04:12.12]of our future science instruments, spacecraft,

[04:16.60]and, most importantly,

[04:18.68]our astronauts on the lunar surface."

[04:22.76]Blue Ghost's equipment

[04:24.72]includes a tool to collect dirt

[04:27.68]and another to dig a hole

[04:29.92]for measuring temperatures

[04:31.88]below the lunar surface.

[04:34.44]The spacecraft is also carrying a device

[04:38.20]built to measure light reflections

[04:41.08]to be used with lasers to better measure the distance

[04:45.64]between Earth and the moon.

[04:48.72]In addition, Blue Ghost is carrying instruments

[04:52.56]to examine the structure and density

[04:55.80]of areas beneath the lunar surface.

[04:59.24]Other equipment will seek to capture X-ray images

[05:03.68]of the edge of Earth's magnetic field.

[05:07.20]The ispace lander Resilience is carrying

[05:11.96]an exploring vehicle, called a rover, to the moon.

[05:16.68]The five-kilogram rover is designed

[05:20.32]to collect lunar soil and other materials from the surface.

[05:25.92]Resilience is also carrying equipment and instruments

[05:30.56]to complete several experiments

[05:33.16]for Japanese companies and other organizations.

[05:37.84]One of the experiments

[05:40.12]will test an electrolysis device

[05:43.04]designed to separate water

[05:45.52]into hydrogen and oxygen.

[05:48.28]Such a device could help future astronauts

[05:52.20]better use water resources on the moon

[05:55.44]and produce rocket fuel.

[05:58.40]Other experiments set for the Resilience mission

[06:02.56]include food production tests

[06:05.52]and the deployment

[06:07.16]of a "deep space radiation probe."

[06:10.36]The instrument is designed

[06:13.28]to collect detailed measurements

[06:15.84]of ionizing radiation in space.

[06:20.24]NASA has said it is paying $101 million

[06:25.40]to Firefly for the mission

[06:28.24]and another $44 million for the experiments.

[06:33.00]Officials from ispace did not report

[06:36.68]how much its mission would cost.

[06:39.40]It is the second moon mission for ispace.

[06:43.28]During the last one,

[06:45.24]Japan's space agency JAXA

[06:48.40]successfully launched its SLIM spacecraft

[06:52.52]to the moon in January 2024.

[06:56.24]But the lander touched down imperfectly,

[07:00.12]causing some communication and power problems.

[07:04.56]However, Japanese space officials

[07:08.00]reported they had stayed in communication

[07:11.64]with SLIM through late April.

[07:14.96]During this time, they said the spacecraft

[07:18.52]was able to collect valuable data

[07:21.28]about the landing and surrounding area.

[07:25.84]I'm Bryan Lynn.

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Words in This Story

mission – n. (space exploration) the flight of a spacecraft to its target along with tasks expected to be carried out

lunar – n. of, relating to, or resembling the moon

reflect – v. if a surface reflects heat, light, etc., it sends the light, etc. back and does not absorb it

electrolysis – n. use of an electric current to cause chemical change in a liquid

ionize– v. to cause to form an ion: an atom or small group of atoms that has an electrical charge because it has added or lost one or more electrons