Lunar IceCube Soon to be Studying Lunar Ice
Having been in development for years, the Lunar IceCube spacecraft will soon be deployed in lunar orbit where it will map the distribution and dynamics of water on the lunar surface. NASA recently selected the IceCube mission to be one of the thirteen CubeSats deployed during the Artemis 1 mission in late 2020. The data IceCube will collect is critical for planning future lunar ice mining missions, especially knowing where the water is on the Moon.
The Lunar IceCube, not to be confused with the IceCube Neutrino Observatory or the IceCube submillimeter wave radiometer CubeSat, is a 6U CubeSat that weighs just 14 kg. It was awarded $7.9 million for development as part of the NASA NextSTEP program in April 2015. Morehead State University is leading the mission in collaboration with NASA and the Busek Company.
The core instrument on the CubeSat is an infrared spectrometer (BIRCHES) that is perfectly suited for observing water bearing material on the lunar surface. Additionally, BIRCHES will be used to study the lunar exosphere, the very thin atmosphere surrounding the Moon. This is important because studying the lunar exosphere will help scientists understand the water cycles on the Moon (such as the solar wind interaction with lunar regolith that eventually forms ice within the Permanently Shadowed Regions at the lunar poles).
Planned orbital trajectory the Lunar IceCube will take as it orbits the Moon. Credit. NASA.
Aside from studying ice on the Moon, IceCube will act as a demonstration platform for an ion propulsion thruster. Results from this part of the mission will help inform future deep space missions.
The Lunar IceCube mission is pushing the boundaries of CubeSat missions with compact instruments, electric propulsion, and non-traditional CubeSat software. All of this while operating in the high radiation lunar environment. Read more about IceCube here.
