Lunar Ultraviolet Cosmic Imager

Lunar Ultraviolet Cosmic Imager
Mission typeAstrophysics
OperatorIndian Institute of Astrophysics
Mission durationTelescope: few months[1]
Spacecraft properties
SpacecraftZ-01 lander
Spacecraft typeLunar lander
Payload massTotal: ~30 kg[1]
LUCI: 1.85 kg[2]
DimensionsTelescope: 45 cm × 15 cm [2]
Start of mission
Launch dateTBD
RocketTBD
Launch siteTBD
ContractorTBD
Moon lander
Spacecraft componentZ-01 lander[3]
Landing siteMare Imbrium
Main UV telescope
NameLUCI
TypeSpherical catadioptric[2]
Diameter30 cm [1]
Focal length945 mm [1]
Collecting area607 cm2 [1]
Wavelengthsnear UV (200 - 320 nm)[2]
Resolution~5" [1]

Lunar Ultraviolet Cosmic Imager (LUCI) is a small planned telescope that will be landed on the Moon to scan the sky in near UV wavelengths. It is a technology demonstrator developed by the Indian Institute of Astrophysics,[4][1][5][6] and it was planned to be one of several small payloads to be deployed by the commercial Z-01 lander developed by TeamIndus in partnership with OrbitBeyond. The mission was planned to be launched in 2020 as part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS).[7] On 29 July 2019 OrbitBeyond announced that it would drop out of the CLPS contract with NASA, meaning that the 2020 launch was canceled and it is unknown whether the mission will ever take place.

  1. ^ a b c d e f g "Prospect for UV observations from the Moon". Safonova, M., Mathew, J., Mohan, R. et al. Astrophys. Space Sci. (2014) 353: 329. doi:10.1007/s10509-014-2056-y
  2. ^ a b c d Prospect for UV observations from the Moon. II. Instrumental Design of an Ultraviolet Imager LUCI. Joice Mathew, Ajin Prakash, Mayuresh Sarpotdar, A.G. Sreejith, Nirmal K., S. Ambily, Margarita Safonova, Jayant Murthy, Noah Brosch. ArXive, 6 January 2017.
  3. ^ Prospect for UV observations from the Moon. III. Assembly and ground calibration of Lunar Ultraviolet Cosmic Imager (LUCI). Mathew, J., Nair, B.G., Safonova, M. et al. Astrophys Space Sci (2019) 364: 53. 29 March 2019. doi:10.1007/s10509-019-3538-8
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference DNA was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ "Prospect for UV observations from the Moon. II. Instrumental design of an ultraviolet imager LUCI". Mathew, J., Prakash, A., Sarpotdar, M. et al. Astrophys. Space Sci. (2017) 362: 37. doi:10.1007/s10509-017-3010-6
  6. ^ "IIA, Team Indus take an X-Prize shot with LUCI - Bangalore Mirror -". Bangalore Mirror. Retrieved 2017-05-14.
  7. ^ "NASA Announces New Partnerships for Commercial Lunar Payload Delivery Services". NASA. 29 November 2018. Retrieved November 29, 2018.