美国宇航局的月球冰块 – 月球观测立方体准备发射阿尔忒弥斯

月球冰立方在轨道上检查月球冰的插图。 学分：莫尔黑德州立大学

月球冰块[{” attribute=””>NASA’s water-scouting CubeSat, is now poised to hitch a ride to lunar orbit. Although it is not much bigger than a shoe box, Lunar IceCube’s data will have an outsized impact on lunar science.

The satellite is integrated into the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and ready to journey to the Moon as part of the uncrewed Artemis I mission, launching this year.

Lunar IceCube will orbit the Moon and use a spectrometer to investigate lunar ice. Earlier missions already revealed water ice on the Moon, but Lunar IceCube will further NASA’s knowledge about lunar ice dynamics.

Scientists are especially interested in the absorption and release of water from the regolith — the Moon’s rocky and dusty surface. With Lunar IceCube investigating this process, NASA can map these changes as they occur on the Moon.

美国宇航局的月球冰立方任务将作为阿尔忒弥斯一号任务的辅助载荷前往月球。图片来源：美国宇航局戈达德太空飞行中心

月球冰立方还将检查外逸层——非常薄的体积，类似于月球周围的大气。 通过了解月球上水和其他物质的动态，研究人员将能够预测月球冰的季节性变化，这可能会影响其未来作为资源的使用。

所有这一切都将来自重量仅为 31 磅（14 公斤）的高效且具有成本效益的 CubeSat。 IceCube Moon 只是其中之一 立方体卫星 赶上阿尔忒弥斯一号的月球之旅。这些小型卫星以及未来的阿尔忒弥斯任务将增加我们在月球上生活和工作的知识，最终将帮助人类探险者做好准备[{” attribute=””>Mars.

Lunar IceCube is funded by NASA’s Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships program, or NextSTEP, in support of NASA’s Advanced Exploration Systems Division within the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate. The Lunar IceCube mission is led by Morehead State University in Morehead, Kentucky; NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland; NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California; NASA’s Katherine Johnson Independent Verification and Validation Facility in Fairmont, West Virginia; and Busek Space Propulsion and Systems in Natick, Massachusetts.