Lumio (Observer for lunar meteoric impacts) is one of 12CubeSat endowed with a sophisticated optical instrument capable of finding visible light flashes on the far side caused by meteorite impacts. This will create a global meteorite impact model on the moon.
Imagine that you have a spacecraft the size of a box that needs to be delivered to the moon. What would you do? That was the task that the NASA representatives set for the European teams last year. And now we have two winners.
Lumio (Observer for lunar meteorite strikes) will plunge into the study of the far side of the moon to find bright shock flashes on a moonlit night, reflecting the meteorite bombardment as they appear.
VMMO (Lunar volatile and mineralogical orbital cartographer) is designed to study the permanently shaded crater near the lunar south pole. He will analyze deposits of water ice and other volatile substances that are important for future colonists.
Representatives from NASA report that it was difficult to choose two winners, as they sent too many high-quality conceptual studies.
European companies, universities, and research centers decided to unite to design moon missions on the basis of the low-cost CubeSat standard, whose size reaches 10 cm.
The idea of the contest was complex, as until now CubeSat had acted only in Earth orbit. In the next decade, well-established flights to the satellite are expected. The winners were chosen after the final presentation at the ESA Multimedia Center, which is used to design all of the agency’s missions.
South Pole of the Moon
Lumio will have to take a certain point in space and use a sophisticated optical camera to find shots on the far side of the earth satellite. These flashes flash in telescopes at night, but the second half of the moon remains a blind spot.
Away from the scattered light of the terrestrial environment, the researchers plan to get weak flashes. This will help improve our understanding of past and current patterns of meteoroid activity in the solar system.
VMMO will focus a miniature laser on Shackleton Crater, adjacent to the South Pole, to measure the abundance of water ice. The area inside the crater is in constant darkness, allowing water molecules to condense and freeze. The unit will take 260 days to scan an area of up to 10 meters at a time to create a map of water ice inside a 20-kilometer crater.
VMMO will display lunar resources, such as minerals, as it plans to fly over solar areas, as well as monitor the distribution of ice and other volatile substances in dark areas.
A secondary payload for detecting radiation would create a detailed model of the radiation environment. MoonCARE (radiation analysis) and CLE (long-range astronomy) projects were in second place in the competition.
