Mission to Last 14 Days
The American private company's unmanned lunar probe "Blue Ghost," which carries eight Korean sijo poems, successfully landed on the moon at 5:34 PM Korean time on the 2nd (2:34 AM Central Time, USA).
Blue Ghost, developed by Firefly Aerospace (hereafter Firefly), a space company headquartered in Texas, USA, was launched from Florida on January 15 and, after flying around the Earth and lunar orbit for about a month and a half, finally settled on the lunar surface. The landing site was chosen near "Mont Latreille" within the basin "Mare Crisium," located on the northeastern side of the moon's near side.
The probe is expected to carry out its mission for about 14 days until the lunar night begins. Blue Ghost is equipped with ten scientific and technological experimental devices, including satellite navigation experiments, a radiation-adaptive computer, special glass that automatically wipes lunar dust, and lunar soil sample collection and classification equipment. Notably, this probe carries the poetry collection "Polaris Trilogy," created as part of a project to send artworks to the moon. This collection includes works by creators from around the world as well as eight Korean sijo poems.
With this successful landing, Firefly became the third private company to launch a lunar probe in cooperation with NASA and the second private company in history to successfully land on the moon. The landing process of this probe was broadcast live worldwide through NASA's streaming channels.
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