Session
Session 5: Science / Mission Payloads I
Abstract
Within the next three years, at least 15 deep space cubesat 'prototypes' will have been launched, testing the viability of cubesat paradigm in deep space. Three of the EM1-deployed cubesat missions, the first de facto deep space cubesat 'cluster', will be science requirements driven lunar orbiters with remote sensing instruments for lunar surface/subsurface volatile characterization. These include: Lunar Ice Cube (1-4 micron broadband IR spectrometer and microcryocooler, volatile distribution as a function of time of day), Lunar Flashlight, (active source laser and NIR detector, polar surface ice), and LunaH-Map (neutron spectrometer, polar ice to 1 meter).
Cubesats in Cislunar Space
Within the next three years, at least 15 deep space cubesat 'prototypes' will have been launched, testing the viability of cubesat paradigm in deep space. Three of the EM1-deployed cubesat missions, the first de facto deep space cubesat 'cluster', will be science requirements driven lunar orbiters with remote sensing instruments for lunar surface/subsurface volatile characterization. These include: Lunar Ice Cube (1-4 micron broadband IR spectrometer and microcryocooler, volatile distribution as a function of time of day), Lunar Flashlight, (active source laser and NIR detector, polar surface ice), and LunaH-Map (neutron spectrometer, polar ice to 1 meter).
