How a tiny briefcase-sized spacecraft will prospect for water on the Moon

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Author: Georgina Torbet

A small solar-paneled spacecraft flies above the moon’s cratered surface. a beam of light emits from the spacecraft, illuminating the crater below. in the background, the curve of the Earth rises above the Moon.

An artist’s illustration of the Lunar Flashlight mission. | Image: NASA

The Artemis I mission isn’t the only lunar mission happening this month. On Wednesday, November 30th, a SpaceX Falcon 9 is expected to launch a commercial Japanese lander called Hakuto-R to the Moon, carrying the United Arab Emirates Rashid rover. And there will also be an extra payload tucked inside the rocket: a tiny orbiter called Lunar Flashlight.

As part of a wave of increased commercial interest in the Moon, the lander could be among the first private missions to land on the Moon — although, as the Israeli lander Beresheet demonstrated when it crashed into the Moon in 2019, touching down safely on the Moon’s surface still remains a challenge that a private mission has yet to overcome. As for the small Rashid rover, this is the...

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