NASA's Small Lunar Probe Is Having Trouble in Space; Understand

A lunar probe from NASA had problems with three of its thrusters while on its way to the moon. The spacecraft, called Lunar Flashlight (“lunar lantern”), was launched last month, in search of frozen water on the moon. Another test carried out on the spacecraft was that of “green” thrusters during the four-month trip to the moon.

However, according to information from NASA itself, these thrusters are having problems. “While the small satellite is quite healthy and in communication with NASA's Deep Space Network, the mission's operational team found that three of its four thrusters are performing below expectations," the US agency said in a statement. update.

NASA goes on to say that, "Based on ground testing, the team thinks the performance issues may be caused by obstructions in the power lines. fuels, that may be limiting fuel flow to the thrusters.”

About the Lunar Flashlight probe

Lunar Flashlight was launched by SpaceX's Flacon 9 on December 11, along with a Japanese lunar module, which carries a lunar rover made in the United Arab Emirates. The small satellite designed by NASA was built with the aim of looking for frozen water at the south pole of the moon, where the agency intends to land astronauts in a few years.

These defects in the small satellite were noticed by flight controllers about three days after launch, at which point it became apparent that Lunar Flashlight was operating at reduced thrust, as reported by NASA. Now, the goal of mission engineers is to design new plans to activate the thrusters for a longer time, allowing the satellite to reach the moon.

This could prove to be quite a challenge, both for the humans behind the project and for the satellite itself, which is about the size of a suitcase. This was the first NASA lunar probe to experience problems shortly after launch.

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