 Artist's rendering of the Lunar IceCube spacecraft | |
| Mission type | Lunar orbiter |
|---|---|
| Operator | Morehead State University /NASA |
| COSPAR ID | 2022-156C |
| SATCATno. | 55903 |
| Mission duration | 3 years and 12 days (In Orbit) |
| Spacecraft properties | |
| Spacecraft | Lunar IceCube |
| Spacecraft type | CubeSat |
| Bus | 6U CubeSat |
| Manufacturer | Morehead State University |
| Launch mass | 14 kg (31 lb) |
| Dimensions | 10 cm x 20 cm x 30 cm |
| Power | 2 deployablesolar panels |
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | 16 November 2022, 06:47:44 UTC[1] |
| Rocket | SLS Block 1 /Artemis 1 |
| Launch site | KSC,LC-39B |
| Contractor | NASA |
| End of mission | |
| Last contact | November 16, 2022 |
| Orbital parameters | |
| Reference system | Lunar orbit |
| Regime | Polar orbit |
| Periselene altitude | 100 km (62 mi) |
| Inclination | 90° |
| Moon orbiter | |
| Transponders | |
| Band | X-band |
| Instruments | |
| Broadband InfraRed Compact High Resolution Exploration Spectrometer (BIRCHES) | |
Lunar IceCube is a NASAnanosatellite orbiter mission that was intended to prospect, locate, and estimate amount and composition ofwater ice deposits on the Moon for future exploitation.[2] It was launched as a secondary payload mission onArtemis 1 (formerly known as Exploration Mission 1), the first flight of theSpace Launch System (SLS), on 16 November 2022.[1][3] As of February 2023 it is unknown whether NASA has contact with the satellite or not.[4]
The lunar mission was designed byMorehead State University and its partners, theBusek Company, NASAGoddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), andThe Catholic University of America (CUA).[5] It was selected in April 2015 by NASA's NextSTEP program (Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships) and awarded a contract worth up to US$7.9 million for further development.[6][2]
The Lunar IceCube spacecraft has a 6UCubeSat format, with a mass of about 14 kg (31 lb). It is one of tenCubeSats carried on board the maiden flight of the SLS,Artemis 1, as secondary payloads in cis-lunar space, in 2022.[3] It was deployed during the lunar trajectory, and was intended to use an innovative electric RFion engine to achieve lunar capture to an orbit about 100 km (62 mi) above the lunar surface, to make systematic measurements oflunar water features.[2] The principal investigator is Ben Malphrus, Director of the Space Science Center atMorehead State University.[5]
NASA'sLunar Prospector,Clementine, Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS), theLunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) and India'sChandrayaan-1 lunar orbiters and other missions, confirmed both water (H2O) and hydroxyl (—OH−) deposits at high latitudes on the lunar surface, indicating the presence of trace amounts ofadsorbed or bound water are present, but their instruments weren't optimized for fully or systematically characterizing the elements in the infrared wavelength bands ideal for detecting water.[5] These missions suggest that there might be enough ice water at polar regions to be used by future landed missions, but the distribution is difficult to reconcile with thermal maps.
Thus, the science goals were to investigate the distribution ofwater and othervolatiles, as a function of time of day,latitude, andlunar soil composition.[6][2]
The cubesat was launched on November 16, 2022[1] on theSpace Launch System "Artemis 1" launch. The vehicle successfully communicated with the ground after deployment on Nov. 17,[7] but on Nov. 29 2022, NASA announced that the mission team was “continuing its attempts to communicate with the CubeSat so that it can be placed into its science orbit in the coming days.”[8] The site has not been updated since, and the status of the spacecraft is unknown.[4]
Lunar IceCube carried a Broadband InfraRed Compact High Resolution Exploration Spectrometer (BIRCHES) instrument, developed by NASA'sGoddard Space Flight Center (GSFC).[5] BIRCHES is a compact version of the volatile-seekingspectrometer instrument onboard theNew HorizonsPluto flyby mission.[2]
The tinyCubeSat spacecraft will make use of a miniature electricRFion engine system based onBusek's 3 centimeter RF ion thruster, also known asBIT-3.[2][9] It utilizes a solidiodine propellant and an inductively-coupled plasma system that produces 1.1mN thrust and 2800 seconds specific impulse from approximately 50watts total input power.[9] It will also use this engine for capture into lunar orbit, and orbit adjustments.[2] It is estimated the spacecraft will take about 3 months to reach the Moon.[5]
The flight software was developed inSPARK/Ada by theVermont Technical College Cubesat Laboratory.[10] SPARK/Ada has the lowest error rate of any computer language, important for the reliability and success of this complicated spacecraft. It is used in commercial and military aircraft, air traffic control and high speed trains. This is the second spacecraft using SPARK/Ada, the first being the BasicLEO CubeSat[10] also by the Vermont Technical College CubeSat Laboratory, the only fully successful university CubeSat out of 12 on the NASAELaNa-IV launch onU.S. Air ForceOperationally Responsive Space-3 (ORS-3) mission.[11]
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain.2022 in space | ||
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