Lunar Flashlight

Roughly the size of a briefcase, Lunar Flashlight is a very small satellite being developed and managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory that will use near-infrared lasers and an onboard spectrometer to map ice in permanently shadowed regions near the Moon's south pole. The observations made by the low-cost mission will provide unambiguous information about the presence of water ice deposits inside craters that would be an valuable in-situ resource for future Artemis missions to the lunar surface.

As a technology demonstration mission, Lunar Flashlight will showcase several technological firsts, including being the first mission to look for water ice using a laser reflectometer and the first planetary CubeSat mission to use "green" propulsion - a propellant that is less toxic and safer than hydrazine, a common propellant used by spacecraft.

The mission was selected by NASA's Advanced Exploration Systems in 2014 and is currently funded by the Small Spacecraft Technology program within NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate.

While the CubeSat couldn’t reach the lunar South Pole to help seek ice, it fulfilled several technology goals that will empower future missions for the benefit of humanity.

NASA’s Lunar Flashlight launched on Dec. 11, 2022, to demonstrate several new technologies, with an ultimate goal to seek out surface ice in the permanently shadowed craters of the Moon’s South Pole. Since then, the briefcase-size satellite’s miniaturized propulsion system – the first of its kind ever flown – proved unable to generate enough thrust to get into lunar orbit, despite months of effort by the operations team. Because the CubeSat cannot complete maneuvers to stay in the Earth-Moon system, NASA has called an end to the mission.