Engineers do not lose hope of starting the LunaH-Map cube satellite engine. About informs space news.
On November 16, during the first lunar mission of Artemis 1, not only the Orion spacecraft was launched, but also several miniature satellites – cube satellites. Among them was the NASA-funded LunaH-Map to map the distribution of water (hydrogen) at the Moon’s south pole using a neutron detector.
But on November 21, after the order was given to start the engine from Earth, the satellite was unable to develop its thrust. The LunaH-Map is powered by Busek’s BIT-3 ion engine, which uses solid iodine fuel. According to radar data from the engineers, the fuel valve was partially stuck, which allowed some iodine to pass through, but not enough to create the necessary thrust.
Experts are trying to restore the valve by heating it with heaters. According to lead mission researcher Craig Hardgrove at Arizona State University, engineers anticipated a similar problem, possibly due to waiting too long for launch.
The scientist believes that if the problem is resolved by mid-January, the spacecraft will be able to move to an alternative orbit to the Moon and arrive there in January 2024. After that, it’s possible to send LunaH-Map to rendezvous with one of the near-Earth asteroids.
Other spacecraft systems work fine. Chief among these was the neutron spectrometer designed to look for deposits of water ice at the moon’s south pole, collecting data during its transit. “This shows that this tool is capable of doing the scientific research we planned,” said Hardgrove.