Lunar Trailblazer completes environmental testing

Lunar Trailblazer completes environmental testing
by Clarence Oxford
Los Angeles CA (SPX) Sep 12, 2024

NASA's Lunar Trailblazer spacecraft has successfully finished the rigorous series of environmental tests designed to ensure it can withstand the challenges of launch and space. With these tests complete, the spacecraft team at Lockheed Martin Space in Littleton, Colorado, is now conducting software tests simulating key phases of the mission, including launch, orbital maneuvers, and its science objectives while orbiting the Moon. Simultaneously, the operations team, led by IPAC at Caltech in Pasadena, California, is testing the spacecraft's command systems, communications with NASA's Deep Space Network, and navigation processes.

Weighing 440 pounds (200 kilograms) and measuring 11.5 feet (3.5 meters) wide with its solar panels deployed, Lunar Trailblazer will play a critical role in advancing lunar science. Its primary mission is to help researchers identify the abundance, location, and forms of water on the Moon, providing data crucial for future lunar exploration. The spacecraft will also track how water varies across a lunar day.

Lunar Trailblazer's two science instruments were integrated with the spacecraft last year. The High-resolution Volatiles and Minerals Moon Mapper was developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California, and the Lunar Thermal Mapper was created by the University of Oxford with funding from the United Kingdom Space Agency.

Scheduled to launch as a secondary payload, Lunar Trailblazer will hitch a ride on Intuitive Machines' second lunar lander mission, known as IM-2. This mission is part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative. Launch preparations are expected to start in the fourth quarter of 2024, with the mission window extending into January 2025.

Around one month before the launch, Lunar Trailblazer will be transported from Lockheed Martin to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. After undergoing final tests, the spacecraft will be integrated with its launch vehicle.

The mission is led by Principal Investigator Bethany Ehlmann of Caltech and managed by JPL, which is overseeing systems engineering, navigation, and mission assurance. Caltech manages JPL for NASA.

Lunar Trailblazer is part of NASA's Small Innovative Missions for Planetary Exploration (SIMPLEx) program, which aims to offer low-cost, high-risk opportunities for planetary science missions with flexible requirements.