Blue Ghost made history on March 2 by becoming the second private spacecraft to ever soft-land on the moon.

Built by the Texas-based Firefly Aerospace, the lander touched down in the Mare Crisium region, known as the “Sea of Crises.” It’s the Sea of Tranquility’s evil twin and perhaps the most ominously named part of the moon to land on.

The rocket launched on January 15 atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The lunar lander didn’t go up empty-handed. Blue Ghost carried out 10 science and technology experiments for NASA.

As part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program, Blue Ghost’s mission is to ferry NASA’s scientific equipment around the stars while gathering data on its space journeys. This is in anticipation of NASA’s Artemis program astronauts, who will be making another trip back to the moon in the coming years.

This Is What It Looks Like When A Moon Lander Lands On The Moon

The lander will study the moon’s surface for around two weeks, which is the equivalent of one lunar day. At the end of that lunar day, when the sun starts to set, the lander’s solar panels will effectively be rendered useless and its mission will come to an end.

Mostly. It’ll try working until it squeezes every last bit of usefulness out of its batteries. It’ll probably get around five-ish hours more of juice and scientific research before it’s drained.

The lander made it to the moon with a wide range of equipment, including a nifty feature/experiment called Electrodynamic Dust Shield, or EDS. A big problem that previous moon landings dating back to the legendary Apollo mission have encountered is all of the moon dust that the lander kicks up as it descends.

It’s incredibly fine and highly abrasive. It could damage camera lenses and helmet visors. The EDS system is designed to use electrical currents to sweep away moon dust that’s been kicked up, clearing it away from vital systems.

Blue Ghost is going to have some company this week as the Texas-based space company called Intuitive Machines will be landing its Athena spacecraft near the moon’s south pole. They’re going to explore the possible existence of water ice that could potentially be converted into breathable air, drinking water, and even rocket fuel.