Chemical Lidar Science Payload for the Lunar Volatile and Mineralogy Mapping Orbiter

• Main Authors: Kruzelecky, Roman, Murzionak, Piotr, Sinclair, Ian, Gao, Yang, Bridges, Chris, Luccafabris, Andrea, Cloutis, Edward, St-Amour, Amelie
• Format: Conference Object
• Language: English
• Published: 2020 International Conference on Environmental Systems 2020
• Subjects: 12U Cubesat; Chemical lidar; Lunar volatiles; Lunar water ice cycle; In-situ resource utilization (ISRU); Ilmenite; Amour; Sinclair; South Pole; South pole
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/2346/86353

Roman Kruzelecky, MPB Communications Inc., CA Piotr Murzionak, MPB Communications Inc., CA Ian Sinclair, MPB Communications Inc., CA Yang Gao, University of Surrey, GB Chris Bridges, University of Surrey, GB Andrea Luccafabris, University of Surrey, GB Edward Cloutis, University of Winnipeg, CA Amelie St-Amour, NGC Aerospace Ltd., CA ICES308: Advanced Technologies for In-Situ Resource Utilization The proceedings for the 2020 International Conference on Environmental Systems were published from July 31, 2020. The technical papers were not presented in person due to the inability to hold the event as scheduled in Lisbon, Portugal because of the COVID-19 global pandemic. The distribution and quantity of surficial in-situ lunar resources, such as water ice and ilmenite (FeTiO3), is currently highly uncertain. Moreover, planned near-future lunar orbiter missions are limited to a volatile-mapping spatial resolution of several km. VMMO, for Volatile and Mineralogy Mapping Orbiter, is a low-cost 12U Cubesat that comprises the Lunar Volatile and Mineralogy Mapper (LVMM) science payload, the Compact LunAr Ionizing Radiation Environment (CLAIRE) monitoring payload, a COTS electronics test bed, and the supporting 12U Cubesat bus with dual ion and cold-gas propulsion, direct-to-Earth S-band and 1560nm optical communications, on-board data processing and a suite of altitude and pointing sensors for semiautonomous, vision-assisted navigation. VMMO will most likely be deployed from a commercial lunar transportation provider, such as Astrobotics, and injected into a suitable near-polar orbit. On-board propulsion will be used to achieve a stable near-frozen polar orbit for the subsequent science operations. The compact LVMM is a multi-wavelength Chemical Lidar (<6.1 kg) using fiber lasers emitting simultaneously at 532nm, 1064nm and 1560nm, for stand-off mapping of lunar water/ice distribution using active laser illumination. The active measurements will focus on selected craters in the lunar South pole, ...