The recent launch of SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket successfully deployed the Blue Ghost Mission 1 alongside the HAKUTO-R lander, with Blue Ghost carrying ten NASA payloads as part of the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS).

Among the ten payloads on the Blue Ghost mission are advanced instruments designed for lunar exploration, including the Lunar Instrumentation for Subsurface Thermal Exploration and the Lunar GNSS Receiver Experiment.

The Blue Ghost mission aims to land near Mons Latreille in Mare Crisium on March 2, 2025, where it will test various technologies such as drilling, regolith collection, GPS usage, radiation tolerance, and dust protection.

Meanwhile, the HAKUTO-R M2 Resilience lander, developed in Japan, is set to follow a low energy trajectory to the Moon, targeting a landing in Mare Frigoris within four months.

Upon its arrival, the HAKUTO-R will deploy a lunar rover named Tenacious, which is tasked with collecting samples of lunar regolith that NASA has contracted to purchase for $5,000.

This renewed interest in lunar exploration is bolstered by NASA's Artemis program and international efforts from countries like China and India.

Lunar exploration has seen a resurgence over 50 years after the Apollo program, which marked the first human missions to the Moon.

The Falcon 9 rocket, designed by SpaceX to reduce launch costs, has achieved approximately 200 successful launches since its introduction in 2010.