Keep in mind, Orion isn't the only passenger on #Artemis1!
Along with it, we have a few cubesats:
- ArgoMoon, an Italian sat designed to image the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage.
- BioSentinel contains yeast cards that will be rehydrated to measure the effects of radiation.
- CubeSat for Solar Particles will orbit the Sun in interplanetary space and study its particles and magnetic fields.
- EQUULEUS, a Japanese sat designed to image the Earth's plasmasphere, study impacts on the Moon's far side, and test small trajectory maneuvers near the Moon.
- Lunar IceCube is designed to use its infrared spectrometer to detect water and organic compounds in the lunar surface and exosphere.
- Lunar Polar Hydrogen Mapper, a lunar orbiter designed to use its neutron detector to study water ice on the lunar south pole.
- Near-Earth Asteroid Scout, designed by JPL, is a solar sail that will flyby a near-Earth asteroid.
- OMOTENASHI, designed by JAXA, is a lunar probe attempting to land using solid rocket motors.
- LunIR, designed by Lockheed Martin, is to flyby the Moon and collect its surface thermography.
- Team Miles, designed by Fluid and Reason LLC, will demonstrate low-thrust plasma propulsion in deep space.
LOTS of really neat missions, excited to see what results they yield!
Definitely keep an eye out for these sats, and I hope they continue having these secondary payloads for the future Artemis missions!
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