IEEE - Aerospace and Electronic Systems - March 2020 - 51

Cohen et al.
management, fault protection and interface management
for various hardware components including the Iris radio,
payload, power, attitude control, propulsion unit, and
Sphinx. Lunar Flashlight FSW is developed using the F
Prime framework with heritage from the ASTERIA
mission [22].

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resource utilization (ISRU) applications," Planet Space
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SUMMARY

[4] G. B. Sanders, "Advancing in situ resource utilization capabilities to achieve a new paradign in space exploration,"

Lunar Flashlight is a low-cost mission to be launched as
part of NASA's first SLS flight. This innovative mission
will demonstrate several firsts, including being one of the
first instruments onboard a CubeSat performing science
measurements beyond low Earth orbit, and the first planetary mission to use multiband active reflectometry from
orbit. It will demonstrate new 100 mN thrusters using green
propellant, providing nearly 25% higher performance than
hydrazine in a low toxicity form for transport and storage.
Lunar Flashlight will drive infusion of these technologies
into smaller satellites and payloads for NASA.
The mission goals are to test new technologies and to
detect and map the surface distribution of water ice within
the PSRs of the lunar south pole. Lunar Flashlight's fourchannel laser projector will illuminate PSRs, measuring
surface reflectance at wavelengths diagnostic of water ice.
Lunar Flashlight will attempt to distinguish water ice from
dry regolith in two ways: 1) spatial variations in albedo
and 2) reflectance ratios between absorption and continuum channels. Confirming and mapping these properties
within the PSRs and in the sunlit terrain will be highly
complementary to other lunar datasets, including LRO.
Two other missions on the Artemis-1 launch (Lunar
IceCube and LunaH-Map) will make complementary
lunar volatile measurements [23], [24]. Although each
mission uses a different design and measurement
approach, the results from all three missions will be synergistic when viewed as a fleet of tiny missions simultaneously exploring the nature and distribution of water on
the Moon ahead of human exploration.

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2001.
[8] W. C. Feldman et al., "Evidence for water ice near the
lunar poles," J. Geophys. Res., vol. 106, pp. 23231-23252,
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[9] A. B. Sanin et al., "Testing lunar permanently shadowed
regions for water ice: LEND results from LRO," J. Geophys. Res. Planets, vol. 117, 2012.
[10] P. O. Hayne et al., "New approaches to lunar ice detection
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[11] A. Colaprete et al., "Detection of water in the LCROSS
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10.1126/science.1186986.
[12] P. O. Hayne et al., "Evidence for exposed water ice in the
Moon's south polar regions from Lunar Reconnaissance
Orbiter ultraviolet albedo and temperature measurements,"
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[13] E. A. Fisher et al., "Evidence for surface water ice in the

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

lunar polar regions using reflectance measurements from

JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in
Pasadena, manages Lunar Flashlight for NASA. A part of
this work was performed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
California Institute of Technology, under contract with
the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter and temperature measurements from the Diviner Lunar Radiometer
Experiment," Icarus, vol. 292, pp. 74-85, 2017. [Online].
Available: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2017.03.023
[14] S. Li et al., "Direct evidence of surface exposed water
ice in the lunar polar regions," Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci.,
vol. 115, no. 36, pp. 8907-8912, 2018, doi: 10.1073/
pnas.1802345115.

REFERENCES
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of cold traps in the Moon's south polar region," Science,

Planets, vol. 107, no. 1, pp. 65-73, 2011, doi: 10.1007/
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MARCH 2020

IEEE A&E SYSTEMS MAGAZINE

vol. 330, no. 6003, pp. 479-482, 2010, doi: 10.1126/
science.1187726.

IEEE - Aerospace and Electronic Systems - March 2020

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