NASA terminates Lunar Flashlight mission after failing to fix propulsion issues | Oneindia News

NASA terminates Lunar Flashlight mission after failing to fix propulsion issues | Oneindia News

NASA has decided to end one of its crucial missions.

After months of trying to salvage its lunar cubesat, NASA is calling an end to its water-hunting mission.

The organization is finally giving up on its tiny water-hunting cubesat, officially named the Lunar Flashlight mission after failing to fix its propulsion issues.

NASA engineers had has until the end of April to generate the required to conduct monthly flybys of the lunar South Pole.

Lunar Flashlight’s miniaturized propulsion system was the first of its kind to be flown beyond Earth’s orbit as a demonstration of a new technology.

It was highly successful from the standpoint of being a testbed for new systems that had never flown in space before.

The briefcase-sized satellite was launched in December 2022 on a mission to shine infrared light on some of the Moon’s permanently shadowed areas…scanning the lunar South Pole for ice water reservoirs.

Shortly after launch, however, the cubesat began experiencing problems with its propulsion system.

Three of the Lunar Flashlight’s four thrusters were underperforming due to obstructed fuel lines…most likely due to debris buildup.

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