LOS ANGELES, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) -- A suite of NASA scientific investigations and technology demonstrations is on the way to the moon aboard a commercial lunar lander launched earlier Wednesday.

The lander, named Blue Ghost and developed by American private aerospace firm Firefly Aerospace, launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at 1:11 a.m. Wednesday Eastern Time from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Blue Ghost will spend approximately 25 days orbiting Earth 3.5 times at varying altitudes that get closer to the moon each time, according to Firefly.

The company is targeting a lunar landing on Sunday, March 2.

Once on the moon, NASA will test and demonstrate lunar drilling technology, regolith sample collection capabilities, global navigation satellite system abilities, radiation tolerant computing, and lunar dust mitigation methods.

The data captured could also benefit humans on Earth by providing insights into how space weather and other cosmic forces impact human home planet, said NASA. Enditem

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