THE GREAT LUNAR EXPEDITION FOR EVERYONE: DEMONSTRATING CHIPSAT TECHNOLOGY FOR LUNAR DEPLOYMENT

The Great Lunar Expedition for Everyone (GLEE) aims to demonstrate a new modality for planetary science data collection using a large network of inexpensive sensing packages to record physical measurements at multiple points on a planetary surface. The GLEE mission will deploy multiple solar-powered 5 cm x 5 cm sensing boards, called LunaSats, over approximately 150 square meters on the Lunar surface. Each LunaSat will autonomously record and transmit thermal, magnetic, acceleration, and regolith capacitance data over 6 Lunar hours (approximately one Earth week) using a radio mesh network. The LunaSat network will produce hundreds of simultaneous timestamped datasets that will be used to construct time-varying spatial maps of Lunar phenomena on the meter scale with millisecond temporal resolution, providing a critical characterization of the Lunar environment for future human exploration and settlement missions.

The current version of the LunaSat, designed for bench testing has provided important data for the final lunar-ready version under development. We are conducting multiple tests to observe our sensors' capabilities to begin making them lunar-ready. Testing the accelerometer, capacitive, magnetometer, temperature, and thermopile sensors in a variety of environments is required to raise the technology readiness level (TRL). The thermopile and accelerometer sensors have been tested for accuracy, sensitivity, and consistency in field conditions, particularly for micrometeorite impact recording. Testing has led to a redesign of the capacitive sensor to increase the efficacy and sensitivity of measurement. The survivability of the LunaSat was tested for two environmental conditions; one in a near-space environment and the second in a controlled environment.Thermal and vacuum chamber testing, as well as simulated regolith surface testing are the next steps.