NASA ends Lunar Flashlight mission after months of troubleshooting efforts

NASA has officially concluded the Lunar Flashlight mission as the CubeSat failed to make it to the Moon's South Pole. Launched in December 2022, the tiny satellite had the primary objective of showcasing novel technologies and ultimately searching for surface ice in the permanently shadowed craters of the lunar South Pole.

While the CubeSat couldn't reach the intended destination, it fulfilled several technology goals that NASA believes will empower future missions for the benefit of humanity.

"Lunar Flashlight was highly successful from the standpoint of being a testbed for new systems that had never flown in space before. Those systems, and the lessons Lunar Flashlight taught us, will be used for future missions," said Christopher Baker, program executive for Small Spacecraft Technology in the Space Technology Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

According to NASA, the satellite's miniaturized propulsion system proved insufficient in generating the required thrust to get into lunar orbit. The team suspects that debris may have obstructed the fuel lines, resulting in reduced and inconsistent thrust.

As the CubeSat failed to perform the necessary maneuvers to remain within the Earth-Moon system, the agency called an end to the mission.

Lunar Flashlight is currently returning towards Earth and is scheduled to make a close flyby of approximately 40,000 miles (65,000 kilometers) on May 17. Following this, the CubeSat will proceed on its trajectory into deep space, where it will orbit the Sun. Throughout its journey, the spacecraft maintains communication with mission operators on ground, and NASA is considering various possibilities for its future.

"It's disappointing for the science team, and for the whole Lunar Flashlight team, that we won't be able to use our laser reflectometer to make measurements at the Moon. But like all the other systems, we collected a lot of in-flight performance data on the instrument that will be incredibly valuable to future iterations of this technique," said Barbara Cohen, the mission's principal investigator at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

Despite months of effort, @NASA's Lunar Flashlight mission has ended after the briefcase-size satellite proved unable to generate enough thrust to reach lunar orbit. https://t.co/uIcn4rnkBd However, the mission fulfilled several tech goals that will empower future missions 🧵 pic.twitter.com/9h31hNbfXe

— NASA JPL (@NASAJPL) May 12, 2023