Ispace posts first picture taken by its Resilience lunar lander

Landing sites for both Firefly’s Blue Ghost and
Ispace’s Resilience
The Japanese startup Ispace on January 29, 2025 released the first picture taken by its Resilience lunar lander, a series of images of Earth.
More important, the company reported that the spacecraft is “in excellent health.”
Though launched on the same rocket with Firefly’s Blue Ghost lunar lander, Resilience is taking a longer route to the Moon. Blue Ghost plans to land on the Moon in about six weeks. Resilience won’t get there for about four more months. Both are using the same technique, slowly over time raising the spacecraft’s Earth orbit until its high point enters the Moon gravitational sphere of influence, where each will transfer to lunar orbit. This method saves weight and fuel, as it requires a smaller rocket engine to make the trip. That Resilience is taking longer is simply because it uses an even smaller engine that can only raise that orbit in smaller increments.
Landing sites for both Firefly’s Blue Ghost and
Ispace’s Resilience
The Japanese startup Ispace on January 29, 2025 released the first picture taken by its Resilience lunar lander, a series of images of Earth.
More important, the company reported that the spacecraft is “in excellent health.”
Though launched on the same rocket with Firefly’s Blue Ghost lunar lander, Resilience is taking a longer route to the Moon. Blue Ghost plans to land on the Moon in about six weeks. Resilience won’t get there for about four more months. Both are using the same technique, slowly over time raising the spacecraft’s Earth orbit until its high point enters the Moon gravitational sphere of influence, where each will transfer to lunar orbit. This method saves weight and fuel, as it requires a smaller rocket engine to make the trip. That Resilience is taking longer is simply because it uses an even smaller engine that can only raise that orbit in smaller increments.