Space-ng’s vision navigation software flew on Blue Ghost Mission 1, determining the lander’s position and attitude, detecting hazardous lunar terrain, and autonomously redirecting the spacecraft in real time. That capability enabled a safe, precise touchdown within the Moon’s Mare Crisium in March 2025, the first successful landing on the Moon by a commercial company.
During the descent, the technology allowed Blue Ghost to autonomously perform two hazard avoidance maneuvers. “Space-ng’s vision navigation technology proved itself in the most critical moments of our descent, allowing Blue Ghost to autonomously perform two hazard avoidance maneuvers and safely touch down on the Moon for the first time in commercial space history,” said Jason Kim, CEO of Firefly Aerospace.
Beyond vision navigation software, Space-ng brings high-resolution spacecraft cameras and AI compute hardware that support space domain awareness, onboard optical navigation, rendezvous and proximity operations, and docking without requiring GPS or GNSS. Firefly plans to integrate these technologies across its fleet of lunar landers and orbital vehicles to support a growing mission manifest, including three additional lunar missions under NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative, another lunar mission supporting NASA MoonFall, and a space domain awareness mission for the Defense Innovation Unit.
Space-ng, headquartered in Littleton, Colorado, was founded in 2024 as a spinoff of Farm-ng, which began in 2020 providing AI-powered vision navigation and robotic solutions for the farming industry. Co-founder and CEO Ethan Rublee is joining Firefly as Chief Engineer of Software, overseeing Firefly’s spacecraft software suite. As a result of the transaction, Space-ng will be fully integrated into Firefly, which will continue to offer its vision navigation and autonomous guidance capabilities to government and commercial customers under the Firefly Aerospace brand. J.P. Morgan Securities LLC served as exclusive financial advisor to Firefly.
Firefly framed the acquisition as a strategic investment in both the team and the technologies that will continue to advance autonomous space operations. “This acquisition represents a strategic investment in both the experienced team and technologies from Space-ng that will continue to play a pivotal role in advancing autonomous space operations,” Kim said, adding that the company is working toward enabling regular, repeatable access to the Moon and beyond. Rublee said the deal allows Space-ng to scale its products and apply them across Firefly’s vehicle line and mission roadmap, building “an AI-first software foundation for the next era of space exploration.”
Firefly, which trades on Nasdaq under the ticker FLY, has identified a manifest that includes three additional Commercial Lunar Payload Services missions, a MoonFall lunar mission, and a Defense Innovation Unit space domain awareness mission, all targets for integration of the acquired technology. Further detail on the company’s spacecraft autonomy capabilities is available through Firefly’s website.
