NASA's Lunar Flashlight Satellite Heading To The Moon Experiencing Propulsion Problems

Lunar Flashlight satellite to the Moon. (photo: doc. NASA)

JAKARTA - NASA's missions do not always run smoothly. As experienced by the Lunar Flashlight spacecraft or satellite the size of a suitcase having problems with the thrusters. Currently, he was on his way to the Moon.

The Lunar Flashlight satellite flies unmanned, it is designed to search for the icy surface of the moon's south pole using a near-infrared laser.

Launched in December last year aboard SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket, the satellite was deployed in conjunction with Japan's private Moon missions that included a UAE-built rover.

Currently, Lunar Flashlight is still on its way to the Moon which will take as long as four months, but a propulsion problem could, of course, delay the time it reaches Earth's natural satellite.

The plan is for the Lunar Flashlight satellite to enter an orbit called the HALO orbit, which is an efficient lunar orbit and only requires a small amount of fuel to stay there.

In its announcement, NASA stated that three of the four Lunar Flashlight thrusters are currently underperforming, leading to reduced thrust.

Although the spacecraft is still communicating with Earth via the Deep Space Network and is otherwise healthy, propulsion problems could make it more difficult for it to perform the maneuvers necessary to enter lunar orbit.

This issue was first noticed a few days after its release. While in its current travel phase, called the cruising phase, Lunar Flashlight only needs to fire its thrusters in occasional short pulses of a few seconds' duration.

As quoted from Digital Trends, Monday, January 16, but starting in early February, he will need to turn on the thrusters to make trajectory corrections. Now, NASA engineers have conducted tests on Earth to check for problems that appear to be caused by obstructions in the fuel lines.

The barrier stops enough fuel from reaching the thrusters, causing them to fire with less force than they otherwise would.

In trying to remove the obstruction, the engineers plan to fire the thrusters for a longer duration during trajectory correction maneuvers. If this doesn't work, they are also working on a backup plan to maneuver using the currently available boost.