By Chris Wack
Firefly Aerospace shares were 6% higher, at $37.59, after the company said it was collaborating with Nvidia to allow rapid on-orbit processing in lunar orbit for Firefly's Ocula Moon imaging service.
The space and defense-technology company said that as part of the collaboration, an Nvidia Jetson module was embedded on high-resolution Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory telescopes and delivered to Firefly's spacecraft facility ahead of integration on its Elytra orbital vehicle.
Firefly said its Ocula imaging service will be activated on board Elytra as part of Firefly's second mission to the moon, Blue Ghost Mission 2, targeted to launch no earlier than late 2026.
Elytra will first serve as a transfer vehicle and long-haul communications relay for Firefly's Blue Ghost lander. Elytra will then remain operational in lunar orbit for five years, capturing continuous imagery for the Ocula service in support of advanced lunar surface mapping, mineral detection and reconnaissance.
Firefly said captured data will be processed on board Elytra and autonomously transmitted back to Earth using the Nvidia Jetson module combined with Firefly's artificial-intelligence software.
Following the Blue Ghost Mission 2, Firefly is on contract to deploy two additional Elytra vehicles to lunar orbit as part of Blue Ghost Mission 3 and Mission 4.
Write to Chris Wack at chris.wack@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
04-08-26 1109ET
