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 duration1 year, 11 months and 26 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.