Firefly to Take Lunar Pathfinder to the Moon

Fri, 17 Mar 2023

SSTL are pleased to congratulate Firefly Aerospace (Image above credit: Firefly Aerospace) on their award of the NASA Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) CS-3 contract to deliver SSTL's Lunar Pathfinder, LuSEE-Night and a User Terminal (UT) to the Moon.

Firefly's mission will see Lunar Pathfinder delivered to Lunar orbit via their Blue Ghost transfer vehicle while the Blue Ghost lander will continue to the Moon's far side delivering a communication UT and radio telescope experiment to the surface.

The UTl will be used to commission Lunar Pathfinder and institute a new standard for the S-band Proximity-1 space protocol and NASA and the Department of Energy's Lunar Surface Electromagnetic Experiment at Night (LuSEE-Night) payload will be the first operational radio telescope on the Moon. Upon the end of the lander's life (the end of the first lunar day), LuSEE-Night will begin collecting data which will be sent back to Earth via SSTL's Lunar Pathfinder satellite.

Sophie Bywater, Project Director at SSTL, said "SSTL is proud to be working with Firefly Aerospace in the delivery of Lunar Pathfinder to the Moon. SSTL is entering a new and exciting phase of our pioneering Mission to provide commercial lunar relay communications. We are excited to be able to help unlock the potential of the lunar economy, enabling new, low-cost missions that have previously been impossible."

SSTL Lunar, the Lunar Pathfinder service provider, offers lunar communications for commercial and institutional customers in support of prospecting, exploring, and ultimately utilising the far side of the Moon. Lunar Pathfinder's communications relay service will be a mission enabler, providing the vital bridge between Earth and the lunar surface. Exploring the far side of the Moon, particularly the South Pole Aitkin Basin, is a key area for future robotic and human exploration due to its chemical and mineral composition. The stable elliptical orbit of Lunar Pathfinder will allow for long duration visibility of the southern lunar hemisphere each day, with maximum opportunities for the transmission and reception of data between Earth and the lunar surface.
As well as offering communication services to orbiters and lunar surface assets, Lunar Pathfinder will also host some navigation and science experiments:

• An ESA GNSS receiver capable of detecting weak signals coming from Earth's GNSS infrastructure (GPS and Galileo), demonstrating its potential role into lunar navigation,
• A NASA retro-reflector to demonstrate laser ranging capabilities and support the evaluation of the GNSS receiver,
• An ESA radiation monitor to collect orbital radiation data and form part of ESA's Space Weather monitoring network.

ESA is supporting the development of Lunar Pathfinder through a Commercial Lunar Mission Support Services (CLMSS) Partnership with SSTL. ESA will be the anchor customer for Lunar Pathfinder services and recently expanded the partnership contract with SSTL for the provision of additional communications services.

Bernhard Hufenbach, Commercialisation & Innovation Team Leader in the European Space Agency, said "ESA is looking forward to working with NASA and Firefly to make this mission a success and demonstrate the strength of combining international cooperation and commercial procurement approaches for accelerating the development of a lunar economy."

Some of SSTL's key technology developments needed for the mission have been supported by the UK Space Agency through ESA.

Andrew Kuh, Exploration Technology Manager at the UK Space Agency, said: "SSTL's Lunar Pathfinder is a fantastic example of UK satellite manufacturing skills leading the way in innovations for lunar exploration.

"The next decade will see more science and commercial opportunities for the UK as we play a key role in major international Moon missions.

"We look forward to seeing the Lunar Pathfinder take shape and working with SSTL to help make it a great success."

For more information on SSTL's Lunar Pathfinder visit our website or please get in touch at [email protected]

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