NASA will continue to try to re-establish communication with the Lunar Trailblazer spacecraft. Engineers hope it can still fulfill its mission to find water ice on the moon.
The Lunar Trailblazer was created by NASA as part of the SIMPLEx program. Its goal is to use small and relatively inexpensive vehicles to study other celestial bodies. The Lunar Trailblazer has a mass of 200 kg. It is designed to search for and map water ice deposits on the Moon, as well as determine the mineralogical composition of its surface. To accomplish these tasks, the Lunar Trailblazer is equipped with two infrared spectrometers.
The spacecraft was launched on February 27 along with several other interplanetary missions. Unfortunately, they all faced significant challenges. The Athena probe built by Intuitive Machines tipped over during its landing on the Moon, and Astroforge’s Odin spacecraft stopped communicating shortly after launch and was lost in deep space.
A similar fate happened to the Lunar Trailblazer. After separation from the rocket, the vehicle started transmitting telemetry, after which communication with it was unexpectedly interrupted. After some time, NASA managed to re-establish contact, but soon the Lunar Trailblazer went silent again — and this time no longer responded to commands from Earth.
As a result of the investigation, NASA experts concluded that the spacecraft is slowly rotating in a low-power state, which prevents it from maintaining communications as well as performing the maneuvers necessary to enter orbit around the moon. Since they know the position of the Lunar Trailblazer and can model its rotation and orientation, engineers calculated that enough sunlight would fall on the vehicle’s solar panels in May and the first half of June to charge the batteries. If this happens, the vehicle will activate the radio, making it possible to re-establish contact with it and establish control.
At the same time, engineers recognize that given everything that is known about the Lunar Trailblazer, the chances of success are low. Nevertheless, they will continue to monitor its signal in the coming weeks using Long Range Space Communications Network antennas. If the Lunar Trailblazer shows signs of life, NASA will evaluate its ability to fulfill its mission. If communication cannot be restored by mid-June, NASA will stop looking for its signals and recognize the loss of the vehicle.
According to Spacenews
