NASA’s newest small lunar rover is battling thruster failure on its way to the moon.
spaceship called moon flashlightwas launched last month on a mission to search for water ice on the moon. The probe was also expected to test new “green” propellants during her four-month voyage to Earth. Moonbut there are problems with that thruster, NASA said Thursday.
“Smallsat is mostly normal and communicating with NASA, deep space networkthe mission operations team discovered that three of the four thrusters were underperforming,” NASA wrote. update (opens in new tab)“Based on ground testing, the team believes that an obstruction in the fuel line may be restricting propellant flow to the thrusters, which may be causing the reduced performance. ”
Related: Description of NASA’s Waterhunting Luna Flashlight Moon CubeSat
Ah space x falcon 9 rocket launched a lunar flashlight probe On December 11, it headed for the moon alongside a Japanese lunar lander carrying a lunar rover built by the United Arab Emirates. NASA’s smallsat Water ice at the south pole of the moonNASA hopes to land astronauts in the next few years.
About three days after launch, Luna Flashlight’s flight controller noticed a problem with the spacecraft’s propulsion system, revealing a loss of thrust, according to NASA officials. Mission engineers are now working out new plans to fire the thrusters longer to complete the Lunar Flashlight voyage to the Moon.
“The team plans to operate the thrusters for a longer period of time in hopes of clearing potential obstructions in the thruster fuel lines while performing orbit correction maneuvers to bring the smallsat into its planned lunar orbit. We are planning soon,” NASA wrote. thursday update. “In the event that the propulsion system cannot be restored to full performance, the mission team is developing alternative plans to accomplish those maneuvers using the propulsion system with the current thrust reduction capability.”
The briefcase-sized Luna Flashlight is extremely difficult to retrieve. The spacecraft “must perform daily maneuvers starting in early February to reach lunar orbit about four months from now,” he wrote. The spacecraft fires its thrusters in short pulses, each lasting a few seconds. Uses a pink colored fuel known as Advanced Spacecraft Energetic Non-Toxic. Designed to be less toxic than hydrazine propellants in most spacecraft.
The Luna Flashlight mission will see the spacecraft enter a wide orbit around the Moon, reaching within 9 miles (15 kilometers) of the surface at its closest point and up to 43,000 miles (70,000 kilometers) from the Moon. I have to send it out. farthest point of the moon. (The trajectory is similar to the trajectory currently being tested by NASA. capstone probe used by agents gateway station For future astronauts. )
From orbit, Lunar Flashlight uses four infrared lasers and a new type of laser reflectometer to search for ice on the surface of permanently shadowed craters at the lunar south pole. The spacecraft is also testing a new low-power flight computer called Sphinx, which is specially designed to be radiation hardened in the harsh environment of space. The new Iris radio is also expected to test ultra-precise navigation systems for future small spacecraft. solar systemsaid NASA.
Lunar Flashlight wasn’t the only NASA lunar rover to experience problems shortly after launch.
The CAPSTONE CubeSat suffered its own set of challenges. lose contact with the earth Shortly after separating from the Rocket Lab Electron booster in July. The probe also began rolling through space after an engine burned out in September. The mission operations team, led by Colorado-based Advanced Space, was able to resolve both glitches. Allow CAPSTONE to reach its final orbit in November.
Email Tariq Malik at tmalik@space.com or follow him. @tariqjmalik (opens in new tab). follow us @space.com (opens in new tab), Facebook (opens in new tab) When Instagram (opens in new tab).
