Leonard David's INSIDE OUTER SPACE

Moon bound SkyFire, a 6U CubeSat.
Credit: Lockheed Martin

CubeSats are planned to launch to the Moon in 2018 – tiny packages that could deliver key info on lunar characteristics like solar illumination areas and available water ice.

One such CubeSat is dubbed SkyFire. This diminutive spacecraft is a 6U CubeSat slated to grab a ride on NASA Orion’s Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1).

Infrared technology

SkyFire’s lunar flyby mission would test out high-tech infrared technology. This infrared camera will take high quality images with a lighter, simpler unit. This reduction in mass means lower payload cost and easier maneuverability in space, according to a Lockheed Martin statement.

The company has signed a contract with NASA to build and deploy SkyFire.

SkyFire is the first CubeSat that Lockheed Martin is building. Over the past 50 years, Lockheed Martin has built 150 “smallsats,” including GRAIL and XSS-11, Elizabeth Howard, a company spokeswoman told Inside Outer Space.

Resource potential

“If successful, the infrared system on SkyFire could eventually be used for cost-effective studies of a planet’s resources before humans arrive. This includes tasks like analyzing soil conditions, determining ideal landing sites and discovering a planet’s most livable areas,” according to the company press statement.

SkyFire will catch a ride to the Moon with 12 other CubeSats on EM-1, doing so as part of NASA’s Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships (NextSTEP) program.

Space Launch System heads outward on projected 2018 Exploration Mission-1.
Credit: NASA

Industry-university effort

SkyFire is a public-private partnership between Lockheed Martin and NASA.

Lockheed Martin will build the satellite with internal investments, and the newly-signed contract will grant Lockheed Martin access to send the satellite to the Moon aboard the EM-1 launch.

NASA will in turn receive data from the mission. The Lockheed Martin development team primarily consists of early-career engineers in partnership with the University of Colorado Boulder.

Flashing the moon

Yet another CubeSat geared for Moon exploration is the Lunar Flashlight. It too is slated for launch on the Space Launch System’s Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1) flight. Development of the tiny spacecraft is being lead by a team from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Marshall Space Flight Center, and the Ames Research Center.

Orbiting Lunar Flashlight.
Credit: NASA/JPL

The orbiting Lunar Flashlight is designed to map the Moon’s south pole for volatiles and demonstrate several technologies, including use of “green” (less toxic) propulsion and utilize a laser system to prowl for evidence of water ice.

The Lunar Flashlight will use its near infrared lasers to shine light into the shaded polar regions of the Moon, while the on-board spectrometer measures surface reflection and composition.