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Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is changing the game for lunar imaging alongside Firefly Aerospace with their new commercial Ocula lunar imaging service.
Firefly aims to launch Ocula as early as 2026. This lunar imaging service would provide critical data on lunar features. LLNL’s new groundbreaking telescope system will be deployed onboard Firefly’s Elytra orbital vehicle and installed in the project’s “constellation” of probes, according to a statement from the Lab.
Firefly’s new endeavor marks the first planned commercial lunar imaging service, providing unprecedented ultraviolet and visible spectrum imagery of the moon from lunar orbit.
“Firefly’s Ocula service is an exciting new effort for LLNL to take our technologies and transition them for commercial use,” said Tina Dinh, the project leader for Oculus at LLNL, in the statement. “We are adapting and integrating our optical telescopes and electronics to integrate with Firefly’s Elytra vehicle.”
The importance of LLNL’s expertise in rapid optical telescope development cannot be understated for this project. The LLNL-developed telescope system can capture a 0.2-meter (8-inch) resolution of the lunar surface at an altitude of 50 kilometers (31 miles), enabling Ocula to create detailed maps of mineral deposits, high-fidelity site selection for future landings and enhanced situational awareness of the moon in relation to Earth.
“LLNL is contributing our optical telescopes to help enable this new commercial imaging service for lunar mapping and domain awareness,” said Ben Bahney, program leader for space at LLNL. “This collaboration is meaningful to LLNL because of our history of lunar exploration and analysis of lunar material samples from the Apollo missions. Our last optical telescopes flew to lunar orbit in 1994 on the Clementine mission, and with Ocula, we are once again leveraging national security capabilities in support of planetary science and lunar exploration. We are thrilled to return to the Moon with our close partners at Firefly.”
Firefly previously set records with Blue Ghost Mission 1, the first fully-successful commercial Moon landing. Elytra Dark, the transfer vehicle that will activate Ocula, is first going to be a part of Blue Ghost Mission 2 (scheduled to launch in 2026). Elytra will remain in lunar orbit for more than five years after deploying Blue Ghost and utilize LLNL’s telescope system to capture critical imagery needed for both human and robotic lunar missions.
LLNL is providing the telescope system as part of a longstanding cooperative research and development agreement with Firefly. Other missions besides Ocula, including Blue Ghost Mission 3 in 2028, will further expand the reach and impact of LLNL’s telescope systems in lunar orbit.
“There is no shortage of amazing science we can do with an imaging payload like this,” said Nathan Golovich, project scientist and astrophysicist at LLNL. “Astronomers often spend a lot of effort to gain access to a telescope and collect data. Partnering with Firefly, we’ll be able to take our sensors right to where we need them to do amazing exploration and science.”
Specifically, LLNL telescope system’s combined ultraviolet and visible imaging capability will allow researchers to identify concentrations of minerals such as ilmenite. Ilmenite is an indicator for the presence of helium-3, a potential needed resource for future energy concerns. Ocula’s long mission lifetime also allows the system to observe significant lunar events, including the flyby of asteroid 2024 YR4 in 2032
“As lunar exploration accelerates, LLNL remains at the forefront of innovation, enabling new scientific discoveries and supporting the next generation of space missions,” Bahney said.
