Private US company Firefly Aerospace has cleared another hurdle before attempting a Moon landing next month. Its Blue Ghost lander, on Tuesday, completed a lunar orbit maneuver that brought it closer to the Moon's surface. In a statement, the company said Blue Ghost is now in a much lower elliptical orbit around the Moon. It even shared a new video captured by the lander from an altitude of just 120 kilometres above the surface.

"In this orbit, the team will experience planned rolling comms blackouts as Blue Ghost goes around the far side of the Moon," Firefly said.

"When on the near side, the team will continue to downlink data and finalize the plan for our next maneuver that will get Blue Ghost even closer to the lunar surface and keep us right on track for landing on March 2," it added. The lander's touchdown is scheduled for 2:15 pm IST on March 2 at the Mare Crisium region on the near side of the Moon.

The lander entered lunar orbit on February 14 and it will spent the planned 16 days around the Moon before attempting a touchdown.

ALSO SEE: Firefly's Lander Makes It To Moon's Orbit, Shares Stunning First Views Of Lunar Surface

NASA administrator Jared Isaacman extended his best wishes to Firefly ahead of the landing. He was also impressed with the high quality footage sent from the lunar orbit.

"Congrats Firefly... excellent footage! Wishing you guys a soft lunar landing," Isaacman commented on the post on X.

Blue Ghost's development was funded by NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative under the Artemis Program. The lander is equipped with ten payloads to conduct experiments and technology demonstrations to learn more about the lunar environment and test technologies to support astronaut missions in the future.

ALSO SEE: Moon Lander Captures Eye-Watering Views Of Earth During Lunar Journey; Watch

(Image: Firefly Aerospace)