LUMIO: POTENTIAL CUBESAT MISSION FOR MONITORING DIFFERENT END-MEMBER METEOROID IMPACTS, EJECTA PLUMES, AND REGOLITH GARDENING

The lunar surface has consistently been bombarded my various end-member type meteoroids and may pose sufficient risk for future crewed surface operations. Renewed interest of meteoroid impacts on the moon have caused researchers to reevaluate flux-rates for the lunar system (Oberst et al., 2012). While ground-based telescope programs have been successful in the past for observing Lunar Impact Flashes (LIF) and gleaming flux-rates; they have been hindered by terrestrial weather, lunar light conditions, correlation errors, diurnal interference, and aircraft or spacecraft. Those terrestrial observation teams have yet to match the flux rates measured by seismic data collected during the Apollo Lunar Surface Experiment Package (ALSEP) operations from 1969-1977 (Nakamura et al., 1982). The offset between 3 x ground-based telescopic groups and the in-situ seismic data is from 10² to 10³ differential in total surface counts. Hence, the European Space Agency (ESA) is in the planning and development phase of a SmallSat mission named Lunar Meteoroid Impact Observer (LUMIO).

The purpose of LUMIO is to observe and record meteoroid impact events, ejecta material plumes, and subsequent regolith overturn or gardening upon the lunar surface (Cervone et al., 2022). By placing this 12U CubeSat at the Earth-Moon L2 (LaGrangian) point in a halo orbit, it will provide an unobtrusive view of the lunar far-side hemisphere and maintain a direct line-of-sight for command and control with Earth-based ground stations. From that orbital vantage, LUMIO’s optical system will be able to observe meteoroid impacts of the full hemisphere, not just partial hemisphere as is the case with ground based observing teams. Additionally due to the closer proximity between spacecraft and the Moon, there is an expectation of improved signal data of light curve information which may prove beneficial for ejecta material plume analysis. With a planned 1-yr operational phase, there is the added expectation of being able to observe regolith gardening from not only primary impacts but from other ejecta plumes as well. The planned LUMIO mission will conceivably update our understanding of meteoroid impact rates on the Moon and potentially help mission planners for characterizing risk for future lunar surface operations.