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Hub AI
Lunar Trailblazer AI simulator
(@Lunar Trailblazer_simulator)
Hub AI
Lunar Trailblazer AI simulator
(@Lunar Trailblazer_simulator)
Lunar Trailblazer
Lunar Trailblazer was a small (class D) lunar orbiter, part of NASA's SIMPLEx program, with a mission to detect and map water on the lunar surface to determine how its form, abundance, and location relate to geology. Its mission was to aid in the understanding of lunar water and the Moon's water cycle. Lunar Trailblazer was launched on 27 February 2025, as a secondary payload on the IM-2 mission. The Principal Investigator (PI) of the mission was Bethany Ehlmann, a professor at Caltech. Soon after launch, NASA lost contact with the spacecraft. The mission never recovered and it was ended in July 2025.
Lunar Trailblazer was selected to be part of NASA's Small Innovative Missions for Planetary Exploration (SIMPLEx) program in 2019. The goal of the mission was to use a small satellite to map water on the Moon.
The mission had four scientific objectives:
In addition, the spacecraft was to search for good locations for future lunar landings.
Like other SIMPLEx missions, Lunar Trailblazer was launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 as a "rideshare" with another NASA or commercial mission. It was launched as a secondary payload on the IM-2 mission in February 2025 with a number of other payloads. Originally it was going to launch with IMAP in 2025, but NASA found a different rideshare opportunity since the spacecraft was scheduled to be completed in 2022.
Soon after launch, NASA lost contact with the spacecraft. The mission was ended on July 31, 2025 after all attempts to contact the spacecraft were unsuccessful.
Lunar Trailblazer was to orbit the Moon in a 100 kilometres (62 mi) polar orbit to study water on the Moon using its two scientific instruments.
Unshielded from the vacuum of space, lunar landscapes are exposed to full illumination from the Sun for about two weeks, and total darkness for another two weeks. The Moon's day—one full rotation—is equivalent to about twenty eight Earth days. Adding to the harshness of this surface environment, the Moon has almost no atmosphere and no magnetosphere to protect it from the Sun's radiation. So, the lunar surface undergoes extreme temperature swings every day and night. During the day, temperatures near the equator are well above boiling, up to 400 K, or 260°F. At night, these latitudes reach temperatures far below freezing (around 170 K/-150°F at most). Any water that reaches the surface during the night would be expected to boil away during the day, or quickly sublime away in the low pressure.
Lunar Trailblazer
Lunar Trailblazer was a small (class D) lunar orbiter, part of NASA's SIMPLEx program, with a mission to detect and map water on the lunar surface to determine how its form, abundance, and location relate to geology. Its mission was to aid in the understanding of lunar water and the Moon's water cycle. Lunar Trailblazer was launched on 27 February 2025, as a secondary payload on the IM-2 mission. The Principal Investigator (PI) of the mission was Bethany Ehlmann, a professor at Caltech. Soon after launch, NASA lost contact with the spacecraft. The mission never recovered and it was ended in July 2025.
Lunar Trailblazer was selected to be part of NASA's Small Innovative Missions for Planetary Exploration (SIMPLEx) program in 2019. The goal of the mission was to use a small satellite to map water on the Moon.
The mission had four scientific objectives:
In addition, the spacecraft was to search for good locations for future lunar landings.
Like other SIMPLEx missions, Lunar Trailblazer was launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 as a "rideshare" with another NASA or commercial mission. It was launched as a secondary payload on the IM-2 mission in February 2025 with a number of other payloads. Originally it was going to launch with IMAP in 2025, but NASA found a different rideshare opportunity since the spacecraft was scheduled to be completed in 2022.
Soon after launch, NASA lost contact with the spacecraft. The mission was ended on July 31, 2025 after all attempts to contact the spacecraft were unsuccessful.
Lunar Trailblazer was to orbit the Moon in a 100 kilometres (62 mi) polar orbit to study water on the Moon using its two scientific instruments.
Unshielded from the vacuum of space, lunar landscapes are exposed to full illumination from the Sun for about two weeks, and total darkness for another two weeks. The Moon's day—one full rotation—is equivalent to about twenty eight Earth days. Adding to the harshness of this surface environment, the Moon has almost no atmosphere and no magnetosphere to protect it from the Sun's radiation. So, the lunar surface undergoes extreme temperature swings every day and night. During the day, temperatures near the equator are well above boiling, up to 400 K, or 260°F. At night, these latitudes reach temperatures far below freezing (around 170 K/-150°F at most). Any water that reaches the surface during the night would be expected to boil away during the day, or quickly sublime away in the low pressure.
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