NASA’s briefcase-sized Lunar Flashlight is essentially a small satellite that will be used to search for water ice in permanently shadowed craters at the Moon’s South Pole, using an unusual orbit employed by only one other spacecraft. It’s being readied to launch no earlier than November 30th for a 3-month journey that sees it zipping far past the Moon.
The satellite will use a reflectometer sporting four lasers that emit near-infrared light in wavelengths readily absorbed by surface water ice. This marks the first time that multiple colored lasers will be used to seek out ice inside these frigid craters. If the lasers manage to hit bare rock or regolith, the light will reflect back to the spacecraft. However, if the target absorbs the light, it would indicate the presence of water ice.
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We are bringing a literal flashlight to the Moon – shining lasers into these dark craters to look for definitive signs of water ice covering the upper layer of lunar regolith. I’m excited to see our mission contribute to our scientific understanding of where water ice is on the Moon and how it got to be there,” said Barbara Cohen, Lunar Flashlight principal investigator at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.
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