LunIR [Tyvak]
LunIR (Lunar Infrared Imaging), formerly known as SkyFire, is a small lunar mission designed by Lockheed Martin to test low-cost instrumentation that could help study the lunar and Martian surfaces and survey landing sites. It was selected in 2015 by NASA's NextSTEP program.
The LunIR satellite will be deployed into lunar trajectory by the SLS (Block 1) iCPS. During lunar fly-by, it will collect spectroscopy and thermography, address both Moon and Mars SKGs for surface characterization, remote sensing, and site selection.
LunIR is one of 10 cubesats carried with the Artemis 1 (Orion CM-002) mission into a heliocentric orbit in cis-lunar space on the maiden flight of the SLS (Block 1) iCPS launch vehicle in November 2022. After deployment, weaker signals than expected were received.
Nation: | USA |
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Type / Application: | Lunar flyby |
Operator: | Lockheed Martin |
Contractors: | Lockheed Martin; Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems, Inc. (bus) |
Equipment: | |
Configuration: | CubeSat (6U) |
Propulsion: | |
Power: | 2 deployable solar arrays, batteries |
Lifetime: | |
Mass: | ~14 kg |
Orbit: | Lunar fly-by |
Satellite | COSPAR | Date | LS | Launch Vehicle | Remarks | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
LunIR (ex SkyFire) | 2022-156K | 16.11.2022 | CCK LC-39B | SLS (Block 1) iCPS | with Artemis 1 (Orion CM-002), BioSentinel, CuSP, LunaH-Map, Lunar-IceCube, NEA-Scout, EQUULEUS, OMOTENASHI, ArgoMoon, Miles |