en.Wedoany.com Reported - Firefly Aerospace has announced the acquisition of Space-ng, a space navigation technology company specializing in artificial intelligence vision-based navigation and autonomous guidance systems. Through this acquisition, Firefly will gain flight-proven spacecraft software and camera hardware for its Blue Ghost landers and Elytra orbital vehicles, strengthening its ability to achieve autonomous space operations on missions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond.

Space-ng's vision-based navigation software was already utilized during Firefly's historic Blue Ghost Mission 1. The software was used to determine position and attitude, detect hazardous lunar terrain, and autonomously re-guide the Blue Ghost in real time, ultimately achieving a safe and precise landing within Mare Crisium on the Moon.

Firefly Aerospace CEO Jason Kim stated that Space-ng's vision-based navigation technology proved its value during the critical descent phase, enabling Blue Ghost to autonomously perform two obstacle avoidance maneuvers and achieve the first commercial lunar landing in space history. He noted that this acquisition is a strategic investment in the Space-ng team and its technologies, which will continue to play a role in advancing autonomous space operations.

In addition to vision-based navigation software, Space-ng provides high-resolution spacecraft cameras and AI computing hardware, enabling advanced space situational awareness, onboard optical navigation, rendezvous and proximity operations, and docking without GPS or GNSS. Firefly plans to integrate Space-ng technology across its lunar lander and orbital vehicle platforms, supporting its growing mission portfolio, including three additional lunar missions under NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services program, another lunar mission supporting NASA's MoonFall initiative, and space situational awareness missions for the Defense Innovation Unit.

Space-ng co-founder and CEO Ethan Rublee stated that Blue Ghost Mission 1 demonstrated the possibilities of Space-ng's modern approach to simulation, perception, autonomy, and flight software. This acquisition enables Space-ng to expand its products and apply them to Firefly's vehicle family and mission roadmap.

Headquartered in Littleton, Colorado, Space-ng was founded in 2024 as a spin-off from Farm-ng. The company's team possesses deep expertise in artificial intelligence, computer vision, autonomous systems, and flight software. Following the transaction, co-founder and CEO Ethan Rublee will join Firefly as Principal Software Engineer, overseeing Firefly's spacecraft software suite. Space-ng will be fully integrated into Firefly, with its vision-based navigation and autonomous guidance capabilities continuing to be offered to government and commercial customers under the Firefly Aerospace brand.