The EarthASAP mission concept for a Lunar orbiting cubesat

TL;DR

The paper proposes the EarthASAP 12U cubesat mission concept for lunar orbit, aiming to study lunar hydration and Earth-solar wind interactions, leveraging small satellite technology for lunar exploration and scientific research.

Contribution

It introduces a novel 12U cubesat design for lunar orbit that combines lunar science and Earth-space environment studies, advancing small satellite lunar missions.

Findings

Design specifications of the EarthASAP cubesat

Potential scientific insights into lunar hydration

Understanding Earth-exosphere and solar wind interactions

Abstract

There is a growing interest in Lunar exploration fed by the perception that the Moon can be made accessible to low-cost missions in the next decade. The on-going projects to set a communications relay in Lunar orbit and a deep space Gateway, as well as the spreading of commercial-of-the shelf (COTS) technology for small space platforms such as the cubesats contribute to this perception. Small, cubesat size satellites orbiting the Moon offer ample opportunities to study the Moon and enjoy an advantage point to monitor the Solar System and the large scale interaction between the Earth and the solar wind. In this article, we describe the technical characteristics of a 12U cubesat to be set in polar Lunar orbit for this purpose and the science behind it. The mission is named EarthASAP (Earth AS An exoPlanet) and was submitted to the Lunar Cubesats for Exploration (LUCE) call in 2016. EarthASAP was designed to monitor hydrated rock reservoirs in the Lunar poles and to study the interaction between the large Earth's exosphere and the solar wind in preparation for future exoplanetary missions.