Lunar IceCube od NASA – CubeSat Artemis na pozorovanie Mesiaca pripravený na štart

Ilustrácia Lunar IceCube na obežnej dráhe lunárnej ľadovej sondy. kredit: Morehead State University

mesačná ľadová kocka,[{“ attribute=““>NASA’s water-scouting CubeSat, is now poised to hitch a ride to lunar orbit. Although it is not much bigger than a shoe box, Lunar IceCube’s 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 mission, launching this year.

Lunar IceCube will orbit the Moon and use a spectrometer to investigate lunar ice. Earlier missions already revealed water ice on the Moon, but Lunar IceCube will further NASA’s knowledge about lunar ice dynamics.

Scientists are especially interested in the absorption and release of water from the regolith — the Moon’s rocky and dusty surface. With Lunar IceCube investigating this process, NASA can map these changes as they occur on the Moon.

Misia Lunar IceCube od NASA poputuje na Mesiac ako sekundárny náklad na misii Artemis I. kredit: Goddard Space Flight Center NASA

Lunar IceCube bude tiež skúmať exosféru – veľmi tenký objem podobný atmosfére, ktorý obklopuje Mesiac. Vďaka pochopeniu dynamiky vody a iných látok na Mesiaci budú výskumníci schopní predpovedať sezónne zmeny mesačného ľadu, ktoré by mohli ovplyvniť jeho využitie ako zdroja v budúcnosti.

To všetko sa dosiahne pomocou efektívneho a nákladovo efektívneho CubeSat, ktorý váži iba 31 libier (14 kg). Lunar IceCube je jedným z mnohých cubesaty Jazda na Mesiaci na palube Artemis I. Tieto malé satelity spolu s budúcimi misiami Artemis rozšíria naše znalosti o živote a práci na Mesiaci a v konečnom dôsledku pomôžu pripraviť sa na prieskumníkov.[{“ attribute=““>Mars.

Lunar IceCube is funded by NASA’s Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships program, or NextSTEP, in support of NASA’s Advanced Exploration Systems Division within the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate. The Lunar IceCube mission is led by Morehead State University in Morehead, Kentucky; NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland; NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California; NASA’s Katherine Johnson Independent Verification and Validation Facility in Fairmont, West Virginia; and Busek Space Propulsion and Systems in Natick, Massachusetts.