Some of the Artemis 1 mission cubes are thriving after launching on a lunar mission on November 16, but a handful are struggling in deep space.
Artemis 1 First flight Artemis program Launched early Wednesday morning (November 16). NASA is huge Space launch system The missile was successfully dispatched without a crew Orion A spacecraft on a journey to the moon, together with a group of cubic satellites to perform various science missions in deep space.
As of November 18, NASA officials have confirmed ArgoMoon And the biosentinil And the eculius And the LunaH-Map And the Omotenashi All were operational, though OMOTENASHI ran into problems in the days that followed and may have met its last chance check-in for Earth, according to one of the scientists on the mission. Most other spacecraft have since recorded their arrival, too, although some have had problems.
Pictures: Stunning views of the emergence of NASA’s Artemis 1 moon rocket
NASA some batteries on the cubes after the Artemis 1 stack retreated in September to take cover during a hurricane, but could not access all of them due to design or access issues (the cubes had to be removed, further delaying the launch).
The agency has not provided an official update on that cubes Recharged or not recharged, although space watchers have been discussing the possibilities on social media and in the forums (Opens in a new tab) Based on any information they can gather from the people involved in the various tasks.
However, stunning photos are already pouring in from ArgoMoon showing both the moon And the land, according to the tweets of the official account.
EQUULEUS and Luna-H-Map were both on track for their lunar flybys, their official Twitter accounts said the last time they were updated.
moon ice cube She was confirmed healthy after posting on November 17, according to the official Twitter account.
The CubeSat to study solar particles CuSP has been checking in regularly with NASA’s Deep Space Network since launch, according to a Twitter update from someone working at a dish in Canberra, Australia.
However, other spacecraft are struggling, and have not communicated with Earth since their launch.
OMOTENASHI has exceeded the expected check-in deadline on the expected date the moon Landing and status remains uncertain at this time.
Terran Orbital, who runs LunIR spacecraft , has not provided an update on its posting since its November 16 launch. Reports from users on Twitter indicate that the spacecraft may be experiencing anomalies after launching into space.
Near Planet Earth (NEA) Scouting It has also been silent since launch, though efforts are underway to retrieve it with the antenna dishes of NASA’s Deep Space Network.
Also, radio communications have not yet been established for the Cubesat Citizen Researcher Team miles according to people on Twitter who listen to CubeSats.
Elizabeth Howell is co-author of “ Why am I taller (Opens in a new tab) ? (ECW Press, 2022; with Canadian astronaut Dave Williams), a book on space medicine. Follow her on Twitter @tweet (Opens in a new tab) . Follow us on Twitter @tweet (Opens in a new tab) or Facebook (Opens in a new tab) .
