Cislunar Explorers

Short description: Pair of spacecraft

Cislunar Explorers

Mission type| Technology demonstration
Operator| Cornell University
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft| Cislunar Explorers
Spacecraft type| CubeSat
Bus| 6U CubeSat
Manufacturer| Cornell University
Launch mass| 14 kg (31 lb)
Dimensions| 10 cm × 20 cm × 30 cm
Start of mission
Launch date| NET Unknown (planned)[1]
Orbital parameters
Reference system| Selenocentric orbit
Moon orbiter
Instruments
Commercial cameras

NASA CubeQuest Challenge

Cislunar Explorers is a pair of spacecraft that will show the viability of water electrolysis propulsion and interplanetary optical navigation to orbit the Moon.[2] Both spacecraft will launch mated together as two L-shaped 3U CubeSats, which fit together as a 6U CubeSat of about 10 cm × 20 cm × 30 cm.

The technology demonstrator spacecraft pair is being developed at Cornell University in New York, by a team of researchers, graduate students, and undergraduates.[3] The spacecraft were originally intended to launch onboard the Artemis 1 mission into a heliocentric orbit in cislunar space in 2022; delays caused by difficulties during integration led to their removal from the Artemis 1 manifest; a new launch provider has not yet been chosen.[1][4]

## Contents

* 1 Water powered
* 2 Optical navigation
* 3 See also
* 4 References

## Water powered

The two spacecraft feature an unusual water electrolysis propulsion system that splits the bond between hydrogen and oxygen, producing combustible gaseous mixture that can be used as engine propellant.[5] This propulsion system will be used to enter lunar orbit. The mission designers comment that if this water-based propulsion technology is successful, it may enable in situ resources for refueling landers for commercial or science purposes.[5] Such a spacecraft could refuel at space-bound water sources, like asteroids, instead of bringing all the needed fuel along with it from Earth.[6][7]

## Optical navigation

Since the purpose of the Cislunar Explorers is to test a novel propulsion system, they will simply be injected in "any lunar orbit" and maintain it for as long as possible. Cislunar Explorers will navigate completely autonomously, with minimal control from Earth. Cislunar Explorers will each use commercial cameras that enable them to view the Earth, the Moon, and the Sun. By computing the sizes of each of these objects and their locations relative to one another, the two spacecraft will deduce their locations.[6][8]

## See also

The 10 CubeSats flying in the Artemis 1 mission

* Near-Earth Asteroid Scout by NASA is a solar sail spacecraft that will encounter a near-Earth asteroid
* BioSentinel is an astrobiology mission
* LunIR by Lockheed Martin Space
* Lunar IceCube, by the Morehead State University
* CubeSat for Solar Particles (CuSP)
* Lunar Polar Hydrogen Mapper (LunaH-Map), designed by the Arizona State University
* EQUULEUS, submitted by JAXA and the University of Tokyo
* OMOTENASHI, submitted by JAXA, was a lunar lander (mission failure)
* ArgoMoon, designed by Argotec and coordinated by Italian Space Agency (ASI)
* Team Miles, by Fluid and Reason LLC, Tampa, Florida

The 3 CubeSat missions removed from Artemis 1

* Lunar Flashlight will map exposed water ice on the Moon
* Cislunar Explorers, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York
* Earth Escape Explorer (CU-E3), University of Colorado Boulder

Other water-based propelled spacecraft

* Pathfinder Technology Demonstrator
* World Is Not Enough (spacecraft propulsion)

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Muhlberger, Curran D. (2 September 2021). "Cislunar Explorers: A Student Cubesat Demonstrating Low-Cost Technologies for Lunar Exploration". Lunar Exploration Analysis Group (LEAG) 2021. USRA. https://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/leag2021/pdf/5054.pdf. Retrieved 6 September 2021.
2. ↑ "Cislunar Explorers". Gunter's Space Page. 18 May 2020. http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/cislunar-explorers.htm.
3. ↑ "Cislunar Explorers - Streamlined, sustainable spacecraft". Wordpress. 2017. https://cislunarexplorers.wordpress.com/.
4. ↑ Ohana, Lavie (3 October 2021). "Four Artemis I CubeSats miss their ride". Space Scout. https://www.spacescout.info/2021/10/four-artemis-i-cubesats-miss-their-ride/.
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Jennifer Harbaugh (22 May 2017). "Cube Quest Challenge Team Spotlight: Cislunar Explorers". NASA. https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/centennial_challenges/cubequest/cislunar-explorers. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Sarah Lewin (16 September 2016). "Water-Powered CubeSat Satellite Shoots for the Moon". SPACE.com. https://www.space.com/34096-water-fueled-cubesat-lunar-challenge.html.
7. ↑ Tom Fleischman (15 September 2016). "Cornell's quest: Make the first CubeSat to orbit the moon". Cornell Chronicle. https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2016/09/cornells-quest-make-first-cubesat-orbit-moon.
8. ↑ "Cislunar Explorers - Optical Navigation". Wordpress. 2017. https://cislunarexplorers.wordpress.com/spacecraft-design/optical-navigation/.

* v
* t
* e

Spacecraft missions to the Moon

Exploration
programs|

* American
* Apollo
* Artemis
* Commercial Lunar Payload Services
* Lunar Orbiter
* Lunar Precursor
* Pioneer
* Ranger
* Surveyor
* Chinese (Chang'e)
* Indian (Chandrayaan)
* Japanese
* Russian
* Luna-Glob
* Soviet
* Crewed
* Luna
* Lunokhod
* Zond

Active
missions|

| Orbiters|

* ARTEMIS
* Chang'e 5-T1 (service module)
* Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter
* Queqiao (relay satellite at L2)
* Chandrayaan-2

|

Landers|

* Chang'e 3
* Chang'e 4

Rovers|

* Yutu-2

Past
missions|

| Crewed landings|

* Apollo 11
* 12
* 14
* 15
* 16
* 17
* (List of Apollo astronauts)

|

Orbiters|

* Apollo 8
* 10
* Apollo Lunar Module
* Chang'e 1
* 2
* Chandrayaan-1
* Clementine
* Explorer 35
* 49
* GRAIL
* Hiten
* LADEE
* Longjiang-2
* Luna 10
* 11
* 12
* 14
* 19
* 22
* Lunar Orbiter 1
* 2
* 3
* 4
* 5
* Lunar Prospector
* PFS-1
* PFS-2
* SMART-1
* SELENE (Kaguya, Okina, Ouna)

Impactors|

* LCROSS
* Luna 2
* Moon Impact Probe
* Ranger 4
* 6
* 7
* 8
* 9

Landers|

* Apollo Lunar Module ×6
* Luna 9
* 13
* 16
* 17
* 20
* 21
* 23
* 24
* Surveyor 1
* 3
* 5
* 6
* 7

Rovers|

* Lunar Roving Vehicle
* Apollo 15
* 16
* 17
* Lunokhod 1
* 2
* Yutu

Sample return|

* Apollo 11
* 12
* 14
* 15
* 16
* 17
* Luna 16
* 20
* 24

Failed landings|

* Surveyor 2
* 4
* Luna 5
* 7
* 8
* 15
* 18
* Beresheet
* Vikram / Pragyan

Flybys|

* 4M
* Apollo 13
* AsiaSat-3 / HGS-1
* Chang'e 5-T1 / Xiaofei
* Geotail
* ICE
* Longjiang-1
* Luna 1
* 3
* 4
* 6
* Mariner 10
* Nozomi
* Pioneer 4
* Ranger 5
* STEREO
* TESS
* WMAP
* WIND
* Zond 3
* 5
* 6
* 7
* 8
* PAS-22

Planned
missions|

| Artemis|

* Artemis 1 (2020)
* ArgoMoon
* BioSentinel
* Cislunar Explorers
* CU-E3
* CuSP
* EQUULEUS
* LunaH-Map
* Lunar Flashlight
* Lunar IceCube
* NEA Scout
* OMOTENASHI
* SkyFire
* Team Miles
* Artemis 2 (2022)
* Artemis 3 (2024)
* Artemis 4 (2025)
* Artemis 5 (2026)
* Artemis 6 (2027)
* Artemis 7 (2028)
* Artemis 8 (2028)

|

CLPS|

* CAPSTONE (December 2020)
* Nova-C (2021)
* Peregrine M1 (Jul 2021)
* VIPER (2022)

Luna-Glob|

* Luna 25 (2021)
* Luna 26 (2024)
* Luna 27 (2025)
* Luna 28 (2027)
* Luna 29 (2028)
* Luna 30 (2028)
* Luna 31 (2028)

CLEP|

* Chang'e 5 (mid-2020)
* Chang'e 6 (2023–2024)
* Chang'e 7 (2023)
* Chang'e 8 (2027)

Others|

* Moon Express Lunar Scout (Jul 2020)
* International Lunar Observatory
* MoonLIGHT
* ALINA (2021)
* CubeRover
* Uni
* Hakuto-R M1 (Oct 2021)
* MoonRanger (2022)
* SLIM (Jan 2022)
* KPLO (Jul 2022)
* DESTINY+ (2022)
* Hakuto-R M2 (Mar 2023)
* #dearMoon project (2023)

Proposed
missions|

| Robotic|

* Chandrayaan-3 (November 2020)
* Lunar Polar Exploration Mission (2024)
* Artemis-7
* Blue Moon
* BOLAS
* Garatéa-L
* ISOCHRON
* Lunar Pathfinder
* McCandless
* Moon Diver
* XL-1

|

Crewed|

* DSE-Alpha
* Lunar Gateway (Lockheed Martin Lunar Lander)
* Lunar Orbital Station

Cancelled /
concepts|

* Altair
* Baden-Württemberg 1
* European Lunar Explorer
* International Lunar Network
* LEO
* LK
* Lunar-A
* Lunar Lander
* Lunar Mission One
* Lunar Observer
* Lunokhod 3
* MoonLITE
* MoonRise
* Prospector
* Resource Prospector
* SELENE-2
* Ukrselena

See also|

* Colonization of the Moon
* Google Lunar X Prize
* List of lunar probes
* List of missions to the Moon
* List of artificial objects on the Moon
* Lunar resources
* Apollo 17 Moon mice
* Moon landing conspiracy theories
* Apollo 11 anniversaries
* List of crewed lunar lander designs

* Missions are ordered by launch date. Crewed missions are in italics.

* v
* t
* e

Future spaceflights

Crewed|

| 2020|

* Soyuz MS-16 (April)
* Soyuz MS-17 (October)
* Shenzhou 12
* Crew Dragon Demo-2
* Boeing Crewed Flight Test
* USCV-1
* USCV-2
* New Shepard (crewed flight test)
* VSS Unity VF02

|

2021|

* Gaganyaan Crewed Flight 1
* Shenzhou 13
* USCV-3

2022|

* Artemis 2

2023+|

* #dearMoon project (2023)
* Artemis 3 (2024)

Robotic|

| 2020|

* AFSPC-7
* ALOS-3
* ALOS-4
* Artemis 1 (November)
* Orion
* Lunar Flashlight
* NEA Scout
* BioSentinel
* SkyFire
* Lunar IceCube
* CuSP
* LunaH-Map
* EQUULEUS
* OMOTENASHI
* ArgoMoon
* Cislunar Explorers
* CU-E3
* Team Miles
* Chandrayaan-3
* Chang'e 5
* GSAT-20
* Hope Mars Mission (July)
* HX-1 (July–August)
* Ingenio
* Inmarsat-6 F1
* JCSAT-17
* Kounotori 9 (May)
* Mars 2020 (July–August)
* MX-1E (July)
* Nauka / European Robotic Arm (December)
* QZS-1R
* RAPIS-2 / Z-Sat / DRUMS / KOSEN-1
* Rosalind Franklin rover and Kazachok lander (July)
* Solar Orbiter (February)
* Space Complex Alpha
* TARANIS

|

2021|

* Aditya-L1
* Astrobotic M1 (June)
* AEM rovers
* Uni
* EXA/AEC lunar orbiter
* B330
* CAPSTONE (December)
* DART / LICIA (June)
* Dream Chaser (September)
* Hakuto-R M1 (October)
* IXPE (April)
* James Webb Space Telescope (March)
* Landsat 9 (January)
* Lucy (October)
* Luna 25 (July)
* Nova-C (July)
* PROBA-3 (Q2)
* PTScientists
* Tianhe
* SES-17
* Space RIDER
* UN/Dream Chaser
* Wentian
* XPoSat

2022|

* Biomass (October)
* DESTINY+
* EarthCARE (June)
* Euclid (June)
* HTV-X1
* JUICE (June)
* KPLO (July)
* MetOp-SG Series A
* NISAR (September)
* Power and Propulsion Element (December)
* Prichal
* Psyche (August)
* PUNCH / TRACERS
* Soyuz GVK-1
* SpaceX Starship (1st Mars departure)
* TEREX-1
* Weather System Follow-on Microwave
* XRISM / SLIM (January)

2023|

* Chang'e 7
* Hakuto-R M2 (March)
* MetOp-SG Series B
* QZS-5
* QZS-6
* QZS-7
* Shukrayaan-1
* SMILE
* SPHEREx

2024+|

* Chang'e 6 (2023 or 2024)
* FLEX
* GOES-U (2024)
* Hera / APEX / Juventas (October 2024)
* IMAP / SWFO-L1 (October 2024)
* Luna 26 (2024)
* MMX (September 2024)
* MOM 2 (2024)
* Small-JASMINE (2024)
* ZhengHe (2024)
* Europa Clipper (2025)
* Luna 27 (2025)
* Luna 28 (2025+)
* Spektr-UV (2025)
* Dragonfly (2026)
* PLATO (2026)
* Venera-D (2026 or 2031)
* Chang'e 8 (2027)
* LiteBIRD (2027)
* ARIEL / Comet Interceptor]] (2028)
* ATHENA (2031)
* LISA (2034)

TBA|

* Energia-100
* Europa Lander (2025?)
* KiwiSAT
* Lybid 1
* Nano-JASMINE
* Near-Earth Object Surveillance Mission
* WFIRST (mid-2020s)

Recently
launched|

* Progress MS-13 (6 December)
* Jilin-1 Gaofen-02B (7 December)
* HEAD-2A / 2B (7 December)
* GLONASS-M List of GLONASS satellites

* List of proposed missions to the Moon
* List of proposed space observatories

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