Firefly Aerospace announced the acquisition of AI-powered navigation company Space-ng Inc. on June 25, 2026, to integrate autonomous vision and guidance systems into its fleet of lunar landers and orbital vehicles.
The transaction fully integrates the Colorado-based software firm into Firefly, supporting a growing manifest of five upcoming space missions.
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Financial terms were not disclosed, and J. P.
Morgan Securities LLC served as exclusive financial advisor to Firefly.
The acquisition brings Space-ng's flight-proven software, high-resolution spacecraft cameras, and AI compute hardware directly onto Firefly's engineering portfolio.
The technology was successfully deployed during the Blue Ghost Mission 1 lunar landing in March 2025.
Proven Technology in Action
"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.
The navigation system used machine learning and passive computer vision to execute real-time hazard avoidance without external GPS or ground uplink signals, offering an alternative to heavier lidar-based systems.
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"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 added.
As part of the integration, Space-ng co-founder and CEO Ethan Rublee will become Firefly's Chief Engineer of Software, overseeing the entire spacecraft software suite.
"Blue Ghost Mission 1 demonstrated what's possible with Space-ng's modern approach to simulation, perception, autonomy, and flight software," said Rublee.
The technology will be implemented across Firefly's upcoming manifest, including three additional NASA Commercial Lunar Payload Services missions, a NASA MoonFall initiative mission, and a space domain awareness project for the Defense Innovation Unit.
"This acquisition allows us to scale Space-ng's products and apply them across Firefly's exciting vehicle line and mission roadmap," Rublee said.
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Space-ng was originally established in 2024 as a specialized spinoff of Farm-ng, an agricultural robotics firm that began developing AI-powered vision systems in 2020.
