Die In Space, NASA Officially Stops Trailblazer Lunar Satellite Mission
JAKARTA NASA announced the end of the Lunar Trailblazer mission. This small satellite made by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) was supposed to land on the Moon, but its mission failed to go on target.
The satellite was launched on February 26 to detect and map the location of water and minerals on the Moon. However, the operator lost contact with the satellite about a day after the launch.
NASA said that this mission had to be stopped because two-way communication could not be established. In fact, two-way communication is important so that the team can operate the boosters needed to keep the Lunar Trailblazer on track.
The team has made various efforts to restore its mission, but there is no successful way. The limited data that the team managed to receive showed that the composition of the aircraft's solar panels was not oriented towards the Sun. As a result, the Lunar Trailblazer battery has run out of power.
"Although the results didn't go as expected, mission experience like Lunar Trailblazer helped us learn and reduce the risk for future low-cost small satellites," said NASA's Science Mission Directorate Association Administrator Nicky Fox.
NASA also revealed that there are many organizations in various parts of the world that offer voluntary assistance. In fact, some organizations are trying to listen to radio signals from the spacecraft.
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However, the Lunar Trailblazer remains difficult to reach. This satellite is getting further and more difficult to recover. In the end, the satellite telecommunication signal was too weak to accept.
Ehlmann, the main researcher of the satellite mission, expressed his disappointment. Even so, Ehlmann believes that the technology used in Lunar Trailblazer, such as the High-Resolution Volales and Minerals Moon Mapper imaging spectrometer, will remain useful for other projects in the future.
"We are very disappointed that our spacecraft did not make it to the Moon, but the two science instruments we developed, like the team we formed, world-class," said Ehlmann. "This collective knowledge and developed technology will complement each other with other projects."