Artemis I CubeSats
The Artemis I CubeSats — ten small satellites, each the size of a shoebox, that rode NASA's first Space Launch System rocket on 16 November 2022 and were released on the way to the Moon. They were built by NASA centres, universities, companies and the space agencies of Italy and Japan. Their results were mixed: some returned images and data, others were never heard from, and BioSentinel was still in orbit around the Sun years later.
Key facts
Mission & specifications
Mission
- Operator
- NASA and partners
- Launched
- November 16, 2022
- Status
- Active
Trajectory
- Distance from the Sun
- 0.996 AU
- Computed from the cached position
- Distance from Earth
- 3,130,665 km
- Computed from cached positions
- Distance from Venus
- 0.285 AU
- Computed from cached positions
Mission
When NASA's first Space Launch System rocket sent the uncrewed Orion capsule toward the Moon on 16 November 2022, it also carried ten CubeSats, each about the size of a shoebox, in a ring inside the adapter below Orion. They were released on the way to the Moon. Results were mixed: NASA's review of the flight counts six of the ten as having established lasting contact after release. ArgoMoon, built by the Italian company Argotec for the Italian Space Agency, photographed Earth and the Moon. BioSentinel, from NASA Ames, carried yeast to test how deep-space radiation damages living cells; the yeast did not grow, probably because it had expired during the long storage before launch, but its radiation detector kept working and it was still in orbit around the Sun years later. Japan's EQUULEUS flew past the Moon on course for the Earth–Moon L2 point, the first spacecraft to steer beyond low Earth orbit with water thrusters. LunaH-Map, from Arizona State University, showed that its neutron spectrometer detects water and ice in the lunar soil, though its engine failed and it never reached lunar orbit. LunIR, from Lockheed Martin, flew past the Moon. The rest were lost early. CuSP, a solar-wind CubeSat from the Southwest Research Institute, was heard only in the first hours. Lunar IceCube, from Morehead State University, fell silent soon after release. Team Miles, the only entry of NASA's Cube Quest Challenge to fly, was lost to a communications failure. NEA Scout, which was to sail to an asteroid on sunlight, was never contacted, and Japan's OMOTENASHI could not establish stable communication, so its attempt at a small landing on the Moon was called off.
- 2022Ten CubeSats launch on NASA's Space Launch System rocketLaunch
In the adapter below Orion, released on the way to the Moon.
- 2022LunaH-Map's engine fails to fireMilestone
It cannot reach lunar orbit.
- 2022OMOTENASHI's landing called offMilestone
JAXA ends its recovery attempts.
Images
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