Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost planned to work for 14 days, should be useful for years thanks to its reflector that improves on Apollo-era tech

Sunday March 2nd has become a notable day in humanity’s exploration of outer space, after Firefly Aerospace became the first private company to successfully land a spacecraft on the Moon.

Firefly’s mission launched on January 15th and took a leisurely path to the Moon. The company’s Blue Ghost lander touched Lunar soil in Mare Crisium at 2:34 a.m. Central Standard Time on March 2, after a soft landing that left it in “an upright, stable configuration.”

The craft landed within 100 meters of its target, after a pair of hazard avoidance maneuvers informed by a “vision-based terrain relative navigation” systems that examine terrain beneath the lander to find a flat and safe spot to touch down.

Firefly has since captured a few pics of the craft and the spot it’s landed, and deployed an X-band antenna that will mean future photos and other data flow more quickly.

...read more at theregister.com