Lunar IceCube

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. 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. As of February 2023 it's unknown whether NASA team has contact with satellite or not.

Lunar IceCube
Artist's rendering of the Lunar IceCube spacecraft
Mission typeLunar orbiter
OperatorMorehead State University / NASA
COSPAR ID2022-156C
SATCAT no.55903
Mission duration1 year, 2 months and 30 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
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)
 
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