Lunar IceCube

Lunar IceCube
Artist's rendering of the Lunar IceCube spacecraft
Mission typeLunar orbiter
OperatorMorehead State University / NASA
COSPAR ID2022-156C Edit this at Wikidata
SATCAT no.55903
Mission duration2 years and 8 days
(In Orbit)
Spacecraft properties
SpacecraftLunar IceCube
Spacecraft typeCubeSat
Bus6U CubeSat
ManufacturerMorehead State University
Launch mass14 kg (31 lb)
Dimensions10 cm x 20 cm x 30 cm
Power2 deployable solar panels
Start of mission
Launch date16 November 2022, 06:47:44 UTC[1]
RocketSLS Block 1 / Artemis 1
Launch siteKSC, LC-39B
ContractorNASA
End of mission
Last contactNovember 16, 2022
Orbital parameters
Reference systemLunar orbit
RegimePolar orbit
Periselene altitude100 km (62 mi)
Inclination90°
Moon orbiter
Transponders
BandX-band
Instruments
Broadband InfraRed Compact High Resolution Exploration Spectrometer (BIRCHES)

Lunar IceCube is a NASA nanosatellite orbiter mission that was intended to prospect, locate, and estimate amount and composition of water ice deposits on the Moon for future exploitation.[2] It was launched as a secondary payload mission on Artemis 1 (formerly known as Exploration Mission 1), the first flight of the Space Launch System (SLS), on 16 November 2022.[1][3] As of February 2023 it is unknown whether NASA team has contact with satellite or not.[4]

  1. ^ a b Roulette, Joey; Gorman, Steve (16 November 2022). "NASA's next-generation Artemis mission heads to moon on debut test flight". Reuters. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
  2. ^ "MSU's "Deep Space Probe" selected by NASA for Lunar Mission". Morehead State University. 1 April 2015. Archived from the original on 26 May 2015. Retrieved 9 March 2021.
  3. ^ Clark, Stephen (12 October 2021). "Adapter structure with 10 CubeSats installed on top of Artemis moon rocket". Spaceflight Now. Retrieved 22 October 2021.
  4. ^ Foust, Jeff (17 February 2023). "Deep space smallsats face big challenges". SpaceNews. Retrieved 29 May 2023.