SpaceX made an important step in space exploration by launching two landers to the Moon early Wednesday morning. The landers were sent together on one rocket, called Falcon 9, from NASA's Kennedy Space Centre in Florida. This marks the start of new missions to the Moon after a brief break in 2024. The two landers, Blue Ghost-1 by Firefly Aerospace and Hakuto-R Mission 2 by iSpace, will carry scientific tools to study the moon's surface.

What will Blue Ghost-1 do on the moon?

Blue Ghost-1, made by Firefly Aerospace, is part of NASA's mission to send tools and equipment to explore the Moon. It carries ten scientific instruments to study the moon’s surface. The lander is heading to a large area on the Moon called Mare Crisium and will take about 45 days to get there.

After landing, Blue Ghost-1 will spend two weeks doing science work. This includes taking pictures of the moon’s sunset and studying how the moon's heat goes up to 10 feet deep into its surface to learn more about its history. It will also collect samples of moon dust (called regolith) to study. The mission will also test new technology that could help with future space travel.

Additionally, Blue Ghost-1 will study how the force from rocket engines affects the Moon's surface and test new systems to navigate on the Moon and computers that can resist radiation.

Hakuto-R2 Mission 

The second mission, Hakuto-R Mission 2, is led by a Japanese company called Ispace. It will take a much longer time, around four to five months, to reach a place on the Moon called Mare Frigoris, located in the northern part of the Moon.

This mission follows a failure in 2023 when the first attempt crashed during landing because of problems with the sensors. But now, the Hakuto-R Mission 2 will carry a small rover named Tenacious, which is designed to collect moon dust (called regolith). The collected samples will help scientists learn more about the moon.