What happened to those CubeSats that were launched with Artemis I?

NASA made historical past on November 16 when the Artemis I mission took off from Launch Advanced 39B at Cape Canaveral, Florida, on its approach to the moon. This uncrewed mission is testing the capabilities of the Area Launch System (SLS) and Orion spacecraft in preparation for the long-awaited return to the moon in 2025 (the Artemis III mission). Fairly than astronauts, this mission carries a bunch of mannequins with sensors and has a main payload consisting of the Callisto expertise demonstrator (a human-machine video interface system).

As a secondary payload, Artemis I additionally introduced ten 6U CubeSats past Low Earth Orbit (LEO), three of which had been NASA missions designed to carry out experiments. The remaining had been constructed by companion space companies, industrial space entities, analysis institutes, and universities to hold out a wide range of distinctive deep-space science experiments. Whereas all these satellites managed to deploy efficiently, six haven’t made contact with controllers on the bottom or have since skilled issues, and their whereabouts stay unknown.

The three NASA missions embrace the BioSentinel, which was designed, constructed, and examined by engineers at NASA’s Ames and can measure the results of deep-space radiation on DNA utilizing yeast organisms. The second is the Lunar Flashflight, a expertise demonstrator developed on the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) with assist from the Marshall Area Flight Middle (MSFC), the Goddard Area Flight Middle, and the Georgia Institute of Expertise. Its function is to search for floor water ice within the permanently-shadowed areas close to the lunar south pole and take a look at out new spacecraft applied sciences.

The third is the NEA Scout mission developed by the NASA Marshal Area Flight Middle in partnership with NASA JPL, with assist from NASA Goddard, the Johnson Area Middle, and the Langley Analysis Middle. The aim of the mission is twofold: one, to reveal solar sail deployment; and two, to reveal solar sail navigation by rendezvousing (and characterizing) the near-earth asteroid (NEA) 2020 GE. The opposite missions embrace the next:

• ArgoMoon: Contributed by the European Area Company (ESA) and ArgoTec, an Italian aerospace firm. This CubeSat goals to look at the SLS interim cryogenic propulsion stage with superior optics and software program imaging programs.
• CuSP: Contributed by the Southwest Analysis Institute (SwRI), this satellite is a “space climate” mission that may measure solar particles and magnetic fields.
• EQUULEUS: This satellite was developed by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Company (JAXA) and the College of Tokyo to picture Earth’s plasmasphere and examine Earth’s radiation atmosphere from the Earth-Moon L2 level.
• Lunar IceCube: Developed by Morehead State College, this CubeSat will seek for lunar water and different volatiles utilizing an infrared spectrometer.
• LunaH-Map: This satellite, contributed by Arizona State College, will use neutron spectrometers to create higher-fidelity maps of near-surface hydrogen in permanently-shadowed craters and different areas close to the lunar South Pole.
• Linux: Developed by Lockheed Martin, this mission will conduct superior infrared imaging of the lunar floor.
• OMOTENASHI: Developed by JAXA, this lunar lander (the smallest ever deployed) will examine the lunar atmosphere.
• Group Miles: Developed by Florida-based aerospace firm Miles Area, this demonstrator will take a look at plasma thrusters and compete in NASA’s Deep Area Derby Centennial Problem (previously the Dice Quest Problem).

All ten CubeSats efficiently deployed from the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (ICPS), an adapter hooked up to the SLS’s higher stage. On November 18th, NASA officers confirmed that ArgoMoon, Biosentinel, Equuleus, LunaH-Map, and OMOTENASHI had been all operational, although OMOTENASHI started experiencing issues since then. On November twenty fourth, NASA reported that the NEA Scout mission nonetheless hadn’t made contact. This prompted the mission controllers to deploy the CubeSat’s sail forward of schedule, hoping it is going to be seen to ground-based telescopes.

Briefly, solely 4 of the deployed satellites efficiently established communications with their controllers again on Earth. The groups behind the remaining six missions are at the moment troubleshooting numerous options and are ready to study extra. However as time has taught us, such is the character of CubeSat missions, that are inherently high-risk and high-reward. And it could be untimely at this level to rely out all of the missions which have skilled issues.