Lunar Flashlight

Overview

Roughly the size of a briefcase, Lunar Flashlight is a very small satellite being developed and managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory that will use near-infrared lasers and an onboard spectrometer to map ice in permanently shadowed regions near the Moon's south pole. The observations made by the low-cost mission will provide unambiguous information about the presence of water ice deposits inside craters that would be a valuable in-situ resource for future Artemis missions to the lunar surface.

Key facts

Payload

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Reach

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Speed

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Weight

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IP rating

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Battery

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Power

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Autonomy

fully autonomous

Launch year

2022

Price

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Status

active