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LunIR (SkyFire)

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
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

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