Simple mishap on NASA mission ended up costing agency $72,000,000 mission
The thought of floating through the dark void of space, alone, after losing contact with Earth is, undoubtedly, nightmare fuel.
But it's the sad fate of a dishwasher-sized NASA satellite that was heading for the moon.
Slowly spinning as it edges further into deep space, the Lunar Trailblazer satellite has been lost forever.
And after five months of attempting to track it down, NASA has been forced to abandon the $72 million mission.
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The project was successfully launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on February 26.
It was one of the US space agency's SIMPLEx missions - a lower-cost, smaller-scale spacecraft which hitches a ride with bigger, more expensive missions on the same rocket.
What was the Lunar Trailblazer mission?
The Lunar Trailblazer was due to map water on the moon's surface, helping scientists learn more about how much there is and how it changes over time. The maps would have informed future moon missions - both robotic and human - only the satellite didn't quite get that far.
The Lunar Trailblazer separated from the rocket as planned around 48 minutes after launch, and made contact with mission operators.
Contact was lost the next day. Despite best efforts, a two-way communication was never established.
However, space organizations across the world clubbed together to help track it.
Andrew Klesh, Lunar Trailblazer’s project systems engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said: “The global community’s support helped us better understand the spacecraft’s spin, pointing and trajectory. In space exploration, collaboration is critical - this gave us the best chance to try to regain contact.”
From ground radar and optical observations, NASA concluded that Lunar Trailblazer was in a slow spin as it headed farther into deep space.
154 days after losing contact, NASA had no choice but to give up on the project, confirming the news on July 31.
What went wrong?
Scientists think they’ve cracked the case of NASA’s missing moon mapper - and it all comes down to sunlight. Or rather, the lack of it.
Shortly after separating from the rocket, Lunar Trailblazer’s solar panels didn’t align with the sun, meaning the spacecraft couldn’t charge its batteries. With no juice to keep systems running, contact was lost the very next day.
Klesh explained: "As Lunar Trailblazer drifted far beyond the moon, our models showed that the solar panels might receive more sunlight, perhaps charging the spacecraft’s batteries to a point it could turn on its radio."
But sadly, after its first contact, that moment never came. The satellite instead spun off aimlessly into space, never to be recovered.
While short-lived, NASA is chalking the mission up to experience and accepting its outcome as part of the 'high-risk, high-reward' nature of revolutionary science experiments.
Nicky Fox, associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters, said: "While it was not the outcome we had hoped for, mission experiences like Lunar Trailblazer help us to learn and reduce the risk for future, low-cost small satellites to do innovative science as we prepare for a sustained human presence on the Moon.
"Thank you to the Lunar Trailblazer team for their dedication in working on and learning from this mission through to the end.”
You know what they say: shoot for the moon - and if you miss, you just might end up somewhere among the stars. Looks like Lunar Trailblazer took that a little too literally.
Ellie Kemp