All of this will be attained from a cost-effective and effective CubeSat that only weighs 31 pounds (14 kg). Lunar IceCube is simply one of a number of CubeSats capturing a trip to the Moon aboard Artemis I. These little satellites, along with future Artemis missions, will increase our knowledge of living and working on the Moon and will eventually help prepare for human explorers on Mars.
Illustration of Lunar IceCube in orbit investigating lunar ice. Credit: Morehead State University
Lunar IceCube, NASAs water-scouting CubeSat, is now poised to drawback a flight to lunar orbit. It is not much bigger than a shoe box, Lunar IceCubes data will have an outsized impact on lunar science.
The satellite is integrated into the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and ready to journey to the Moon as part of the uncrewed Artemis I objective, launching this year.
Lunar IceCube will orbit the Moon and utilize a spectrometer to investigate lunar ice. Earlier missions already exposed water ice on the Moon, however Lunar IceCube will further NASAs understanding about lunar ice characteristics.
Scientists are specifically thinking about the absorption and release of water from the regolith– the Moons rocky and dirty surface. With Lunar IceCube examining this procedure, NASA can map these changes as they occur on the Moon.
NASAs Lunar IceCube mission will journey to the Moon as a secondary payload on the Artemis I objective. Credit: NASAs Goddard Space Flight
Lunar IceCube will likewise take a look at the exosphere– the extremely thin atmosphere-like volume surrounding the Moon. By comprehending the characteristics of water and other compounds on the Moon, scientists will be able to predict seasonal modifications in lunar ice that might affect its usage as a resource in the future.
All of this will be accomplished from a effective and economical CubeSat that only weighs 31 pounds (14 kg). Lunar IceCube is simply among numerous CubeSats capturing a trip to the Moon aboard Artemis I. These little satellites, along with future Artemis objectives, will increase our understanding of living and dealing with the Moon and will eventually help prepare for human explorers on Mars.
Lunar IceCube is moneyed by NASAs Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships program, or NextSTEP, in support of NASAs Advanced Exploration Systems Division within the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate. The Lunar IceCube mission is led by Morehead State University in Morehead, Kentucky; NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland; NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California; NASAs Katherine Johnson Independent Verification and Validation Facility in Fairmont, West Virginia; and Busek Space Propulsion and Systems in Natick, Massachusetts.
By Katherine Schauer and Danny Baird, NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center
August 8, 2022