Latest news with #BlueGhostLunarLander
Yahoo
15-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Williamson, Burnet County shoot to become next hub for space industry
The Brief Williamson and Burnet County are partnering to launch a nonprofit geared toward developing and supporting businesses in the space industry This comes after Cedar Park's Firefly Aerospace's commercial Blue Ghost Lunar Lander made history WILLIAMSON COUNTY, Texas - Williamson and Burnet County have their eyes on space. The two are partnering to launch a nonprofit geared toward developing and supporting businesses in the space industry. The backstory This comes after Cedar Park's Firefly Aerospace's commercial Blue Ghost Lunar Lander made history. The company celebrated lift-off in mid-January and landed on the moon in early March to collect data for NASA, intending to send humans back to the moon and, one day, Mars. "This is super exciting for me," said Williamson County Precinct Two Commissioner Cynthia Long. "It is a very synergistic opportunity here to really leverage all the different things going on. There's programs at the University of Texas, Texas State, and others that are looking into these industries, so the possibilities are limitless, and they reach for the stars." Dig deeper Commissioners eagerly approved the creation of the Central Texas Spaceport Development Corporation on Tuesday. "It's amazing that what is on the moon right now was built here in Williamson County and Cedar Park," said Williamson County Commissioner Russ Boles. The nonprofit corporation will provide grants to space companies. "I see this being a terrific way for this exciting industry to be able to continue to grow," said Dan Fermon, the chief operating officer of Firefly Aerospace. "An industry that's looking to grow over a trillion dollars in revenue by the time we get to 2040, and it's on its way." Long hopes the Central Texas Spaceport Development Corporation program will ignite an interest in Central Texas as a headquarters for space exploration. "Think about what we've got already with Firefly here and then just dozens of other companies coming, and that just begins to feed itself, and we're NASA number 2," said Long. What's next Burnet County Commissioners will vote on its bylaws for the partnership at the end of the month. Firefly Aerospace has a testing facility in Briggs. Then, commissioners from both counties will assemble a board of directors. The Source Information from interviews conducted by FOX 7 Austin's Lauren Rangel
Yahoo
03-03-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost lands on moon after 45-day trip
The Brief Blue Ghost, a lunar lander built in Central Texas, is now on the moon. Sunday's landing was the first successful commercial moon landing. Firefly Aerospace got a multi-million-dollar contract from NASA to take experiments to the moon. CEDAR PARK, Texas - A lunar lander made right here in Central Texas is now on the moon. Blue Ghost, built by Cedar Park-based Firefly Aerospace, landed on the moon early Sunday morning while many gathered to watch history in the making down here on Earth. What we know The lander touched down on the surface of the moon at 2:35 a.m. March 2, marking the first successful commercial lunar landing. A watch party packed full of people was held at a venue not far from Firefly's headquarters in Cedar Park. Video screens provided live feeds from the control room and of the Blue Ghost lunar lander as it descended to the surface of the moon. RELATED: Blue Ghost lunar lander touches down on moon for NASA delivery Launched in mid-January from Florida, the trip took 45 days, with the lander initially swinging around the Earth several times, allowing research teams to collect new data. The backstory Blue Ghost — named after a rare U.S. species of firefly — is a four-legged lander that stands 6 feet, 6 inches tall and 11 feet wide. This mission, called Ghost Riders in the Sky, started back in 2021 when NASA awarded Firefly Aerospace a multi-million-dollar contract to carry ten experiments up to the moon. NASA paid $101 million for the delivery, plus $44 million for the science and tech on board. Cedar Park's Firefly Aerospace successfully gets lunar lander into space NASA holds Blue Ghost Lunar Lander briefing before launch Firefly Aerospace's lunar lander is one step closer to reaching the moon Blue Ghost is the third mission under NASA's commercial lunar delivery program, intended to ignite a lunar economy of competing private businesses while scouting around before astronauts show up later this decade. What's next The information gathered from the trip and the experiments on the lunar surface will help NASA prepare for a manned mission to the moon. Blue Ghost is expected to operate through a full lunar day, which is about 14 Earth days. When the landing site transitions into a lunar night, the plan is to record two final moments: a solar eclipse by the Earth and a lunar horizon dust glow, which was first documented by the crew of Apollo 17 in 1972, the last manned mission to the moon. Firefly Aerospace is also currently building another lander, Blue Ghost 2, which is scheduled to blast off next year. The Source Information in this report comes from reporting by FOX 7 Austin's Rudy Koski and by FOX Television Stations.
