{"id":32563,"date":"2022-05-25T08:48:07","date_gmt":"2022-05-25T08:48:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.skyatnightmagazine.com\/?p=108891"},"modified":"2022-05-25T08:57:10","modified_gmt":"2022-05-25T08:57:10","slug":"how-the-lunah-map-mission-will-map-ice-at-the-moons-south-pole","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/rss_feed\/how-the-lunah-map-mission-will-map-ice-at-the-moons-south-pole\/","title":{"rendered":"How the\u00a0LunaH-Map mission will map ice at the Moon\u2019s south pole"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>

By Craig Hardgrove\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Wednesday, 25 May 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

\n\n

B<\/span>ack in July 2021, my wife and two kids dropped me off at work so I could pick up the LunaH-Map orbiter, pack it up into a case, board a plane and deliver it to NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center to be loaded onto the Space Launch System<\/a> (SLS) rocket.<\/p>\n

LunaH-Map (Lunar Polar Hydrogen Mapper) is about the size of a large breakfast cereal box. It is a lunar orbiter that will be launched on the same rocket as the Artemis mission<\/a> and will make maps of the water-ice across the Moon\u2019s south pole<\/a>.<\/p>\n

LunaH-Map is unique. It has a body made primarily of a light aluminium alloy, with lots of holes to reduce its mass.<\/p>\n

While its eyes are made of neutron sensitive crystals that burst with colour in the<\/span> presence of a neutron or gamma ray, its solar panels absorb all the sunlight that touches them in order to create power.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"""\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
Artist\u2019s impression of NASA\u2019s Space Launch System leaving Earth orbit on its way to the Moon. Credit: NASA<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

LunaH-Map communicates<\/span> using a deep-space radio transceiver and gets around using heated iodine molecules, accelerated out from its back.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not healthy to anthropomorphise a spacecraft too much, but LunaH-Map is almost the same size and weight as my real kids, so it\u2019s hard not to make a comparison!<\/p>\n

I felt like a proud dad when I took off the last \u2018remove-before-flight\u2019 plug and placed it into the SLS a year ago.<\/p>\n

How the LunaH-Map mission came to be<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\"""\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
Craig pictured with a model of the Moon and the LunaH-Map spacecraft. Photo: Arizona State University<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

The story of LunaH begins back in 2014, when I put in the proposal. I was four years out of my PhD and wondering why my career hadn\u2019t taken off.<\/p>\n

After several attempts at getting funding that went nowhere, I gave it one last-ditch effort \u2013 a complete planetary mission proposal from start to end.<\/p>\n

The mission became LunaH-Map and to almost everyone\u2019s surprise, it was selected by NASA for their Small Innovative Missions for Planetary Exploration programme.<\/p>\n

In the moments after I found this out I was both elated and terrified.<\/p>\n

The mission had just a small per cent of a usual planetary budget, raising a host of questions about how we would pull it off.<\/p>\n

\"""\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
A view of the lunar South Pole, centred on the Aitken Basin, as captuered by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter\u2019s Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter. Credit: NASA\/Goddard<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

I would love to say that I had answers to those questions, but in hindsight, I think it takes someone with less experience and a willingness to learn to drive missions forward in these scenarios.<\/p>\n

All the technologies that enable LunaH-Map\u2019s scientific measurements were developed over the past seven years, and the spacecraft was assembled in the <\/span>clean rooms at Arizona State University<\/a> in early 2021.<\/p>\n

As LunaH-Map was a small mission with a small team, <\/span>I\u2019ve had to spend time handling not only the scientific aspects of the mission, but management, system engineering, navigation, operations, sub-contractor relationships and licensing \u2013 the list goes on.<\/p>\n

\"""\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
Credit: Arizona State University<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

In some ways a new mission like this needed someone a bit na\u00efve, and I\u2019m happy to be the guinea pig for NASA as we figure out together how to make these very small, high-risk, high-reward missions a reality in the future.<\/p>\n

All that said, I think we did a great job with the resources we had. The spacecraft we delivered to NASA is in great shape and is capable of completing its scientific mission at the Moon.<\/p>\n

I could not be happier because, in a few short months, the LunaH-Map orbiter<\/span> \u2013 strapped to a 5.75 million pound rocket capable of 8.8 million pounds of thrust \u2013 will be launched to the Moon, accelerating from Earth at over 4G.<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared in the June 2022 issue of <\/strong><\/em>BBC Sky at Night Magazine<\/strong>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/body><\/html>\n

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