NASA’s Lunar Trailblazer approaches the Moon as it enters its science orbit in this artist’s concept. The small satellite will orbit about 60 miles (100 kilometers) above the lunar surface, producing the best-yet maps of water on the Moon. Credit: Lockheed Martin Space
NASA’s Lunar Trailblazer is gearing up for launch, riding on a SpaceX Falcon 9 as part of the IM-2 mission.
This small yet powerful satellite will map water on the Moon, revealing its distribution, form, and movement. Before arriving at the Moon, the small satellite mission will use the gravity of the Sun, Earth, and Moon over several months to gradually line up for capture into lunar orbit.
Lunar Trailblazer’s Journey Begins
NASA’s Lunar Trailblazer has arrived in Florida ahead of its upcoming launch and is now integrated with a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The small satellite was shipped from Lockheed Martin Space in Littleton, Colorado, and will launch as part of Intuitive Machines’ IM-2 mission — a key part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative. The launch is scheduled no earlier than Thursday, February 26, from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center.
Roughly 48 minutes after liftoff, Lunar Trailblazer will detach from the rocket and begin its journey to the Moon. The spacecraft’s mission is to map lunar water, determining where it exists, what form it takes, and how it changes over time. These high-resolution maps will provide the most detailed view yet of water on the Moon’s surface. Over its two-year prime mission, the data collected will improve our understanding of water cycles on airless celestial bodies while also helping plan future human and robotic missions by pinpointing water-rich regions.
NASA’s Lunar Trailblazer spacecraft gets covered in anti-static wrap before being shipped from Lockheed Martin Space in Littleton, Colorado, to the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where it arrived on January 29. Credit: Lockheed Martin Space
Cutting-Edge Instruments for Discovery
To achieve this, Lunar Trailblazer carries two advanced scientific instruments: the High-resolution Volatiles and Minerals Moon Mapper (HVM3) infrared spectrometer and the Lunar Thermal Mapper (LTM) infrared multispectral imager. HVM3, developed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in California, will analyze the Moon’s surface composition, while LTM, built by the University of Oxford with funding from the UK Space Agency, will measure surface temperatures to help detect ice deposits. Together, these instruments will offer unprecedented insights into the distribution and behavior of water on the Moon.
“The small team is international in scope, which is more typical of larger projects,” said Andy Klesh, Lunar Trailblazer’s project systems engineer at JPL. “And unlike the norm for small missions that may only have a very focused, singular purpose, Lunar Trailblazer has two high-fidelity instruments onboard. We are really punching above our weight.”
Lunar Trailblazer’s voyage to the Moon will take between four and seven months, depending on the day it launches. This orbital diagram shows the low-energy transfer trajectory of the NASA mission should it launch on February 26, the earliest date in its launch period. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Intricate Navigation
Before it can use these instruments to collect science data, Lunar Trailblazer will for several months perform a series of Moon flybys, thruster bursts, and looping orbits. These highly choreographed maneuvers will eventually position the spacecraft so it can map the surface in great detail.
Weighing only 440 pounds (200 kilograms) and measuring 11.5 feet (3.5 meters) wide when its solar panels are fully deployed, Lunar Trailblazer is about the size of a dishwasher and has a relatively small engine. To make its four-to-seven-month trip to the Moon (depending on the launch date) as efficient as possible, the mission’s design and navigation team has planned a trajectory that will use the gravity of the Sun, Earth, and Moon to guide the spacecraft — a technique called low-energy transfer.
“The initial boost provided by the rocket will send the spacecraft past the Moon and into deep space, and its trajectory will then be naturally reshaped by gravity after several lunar flybys and loops around Earth. This will allow it to be captured into lunar orbit with minimal propulsion needs,” said Gregory Lantoine, Lunar Trailblazer’s mission design and navigation lead at JPL. “It’s the most fuel-efficient way to get to where we need to go.”
As it flies past the Moon several times, the spacecraft will use small thruster bursts — aka trajectory correction maneuvers — to slowly change its orbit from highly elliptical to circular, bringing the satellite down to an altitude of about 60 miles (100 kilometers) above the Moon’s surface.
Arriving at the Moon
Once in its science orbit, Lunar Trailblazer will glide over the Moon’s surface, making 12 orbits a day and observing the surface at a variety of different times of day over the course of the mission. The satellite will also be perfectly placed to peer into the permanently shadowed craters at the Moon’s South Pole, which harbor cold traps that never see direct sunlight. If Lunar Trailblazer finds significant quantities of ice at the base of the craters, those locations could be pinpointed as a resource for future lunar explorers.
The data the mission collects will be transmitted to NASA’s Deep Space Network and delivered to Lunar Trailblazer’s new operations center at Caltech’s IPAC in Pasadena, California. Working alongside the mission’s experienced team will be students from Caltech and nearby Pasadena City College who are involved in all aspects of the mission, from operations and communications to developing software.
A High-Risk, High-Reward Mission
Lunar Trailblazer was a selection of NASA’s SIMPLEx (Small Innovative Missions for Planetary Exploration), which provides opportunities for low-cost science spacecraft to ride-share with selected primary missions. To maintain the lower overall cost, SIMPLEx missions have a higher risk posture and lighter requirements for oversight and management. This higher risk acceptance allows NASA to test pioneering technologies, and the definition of success for these missions includes the lessons learned from more experimental endeavors.
“We are a small mission with groundbreaking science goals, so we will succeed by embracing the flexibility that’s built into our organization,” said Lee Bennett, Lunar Trailblazer operations lead with IPAC. “Our international team consists of seasoned engineers, science team members from several institutions, and local students who are being given the opportunity to work on a NASA mission for the first time.”
More About Lunar Trailblazer
Lunar Trailblazer is a NASA mission designed to map and analyze water on the Moon, providing crucial data for future lunar exploration. The spacecraft will identify where water exists, determine its form, and track how it changes over time. By producing high-resolution maps of lunar water, the mission will improve our understanding of water cycles on airless bodies and support human and robotic missions to the Moon.
Led by Principal Investigator Bethany Ehlmann at Caltech, Lunar Trailblazer’s science investigation, mission operations, and data processing are also managed at Caltech’s Bruce Murray Laboratory for Planetary Visualization. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California oversees mission management, system engineering, mission assurance, and navigation, while Lockheed Martin Space built the spacecraft and supports operations. The University of Oxford, with funding from the UK Space Agency, developed the Lunar Thermal Mapper (LTM) instrument.
The spacecraft carries two advanced instruments: HVM3, an infrared spectrometer from JPL, and LTM, a multispectral imager from Oxford. Together, these tools will provide the most detailed water maps of the lunar surface to date. Lunar Trailblazer is part of NASA’s Lunar Discovery Exploration Program, managed by the Planetary Mission Program Office at Marshall Space Flight Center for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington.
