Firefly Aerospace selects Blue Origin unit to explore volcanic formations on moon

(Reuters) - Firefly Aerospace has partnered with Blue Origin's Honeybee Robotics to supply a rover for its third lunar mission in 2028 to study the Gruithuisen Domes, the Texas-based rocket maker said on Monday.

The agreement with Honeybee Robotics — a unit of Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin — underscores a trend of leveraging established space technology to advance human understanding and exploration of the lunar surface in an increasingly competitive market.

The Gruithuisen Domes, located on the moon's near side, are unusual volcanic formations believed to be rich in silica — a composition rare on the lunar surface — and studying them could unlock clues about the moon's geological history and potential resources for future human missions.

Firefly's first lunar lander mission, Blue Ghost Mission 1, successfully landed on the moon earlier this month, delivering 10 NASA instruments and operating for two weeks — longer than any prior commercial lunar mission — before concluding on March 16.

The upcoming mission, part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative, will use Firefly's Blue Ghost lander and Elytra Dark orbital vehicle, alongside the Honeybee Robotics rover, to explore the domes, building on the success of its debut effort, Firefly said.

(Reporting by Akash Sriram in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)