All articles tagged with #lunah map
NASA has terminated the LunaH-Map mission after a stuck valve prevented the ice-hunting cubesat from reaching the Moon's south pole. Despite the setback, the mission's neutron spectrometer successfully collected data, which will be used to study the presence of water and ice on the Moon. The cubesat was one of 10 launched in the Artemis I flight, with four others also experiencing malfunctions.
NASA's LunaH-Map cubesat, which aimed to map the abundance and distribution of water ice near the south pole of the moon, may be nearing the end of its operations due to a stuck valve in its propulsion system. The cubesat was one of 10 that launched as ride-along payloads on Artemis 1, the first-ever mission of NASA's moon-bound Artemis program. The mission team has been trying to troubleshoot the issue since the spacecraft failed to perform a crucial engine burn five days after liftoff and didn't get into lunar orbit as planned.
The LunaH-Map cubesat, designed to explore possible water-ice reservoirs beneath the Moon's surface, may be shut down by the end of May if engineers cannot ignite its propulsion system. The cubesat may have been compromised due to excessive waiting for launch on board NASA's Space Launch System rocket in advance of the Artemis 1 mission last year. The team is trying to free a stuck valve inside the system, which may be what's preventing the cubesat's thrusters from firing.
The LunaH-Map cubesat, launched as a secondary payload on Artemis 1, may end its operations at the end of May due to a failed propulsion system. The thruster, which uses iodine as propellant, failed to fire due to a stuck valve, and efforts to free it have been unsuccessful. The mission involved mapping the presence of hydrogen linked to water ice deposits near the lunar south pole. Many of the 10 cubesats launched on Artemis 1 suffered technical problems, and some missions had to be abandoned.