There will be a lot of attention on the moon as the Artemis mission's inaugural launch blasts toward our lunar neighbor in a couple of weeks, but the rocket won't be the only new craft heading to space. The SLS will allow researchers to launch probes into deep space in a more luxurious way.
The Near Earth Asteroid Scout will swing past the moon to get to a near-Earth asteroid where it will take pictures. There is a solar sail that will propel the satellite. The NEA Scout can do cutting-edge science while helping the search for the kind of asteroid that future larger-class missions might want to visit.
The head of the NEA Scout science team says they want to image everything possible about the asteroid. NASA's OSIRIS-REx, a much larger asteroid-probing craft, has a top-of-the-line camera. She says it is capable but small.
There are many possible uses for CubeSats, demonstrated by NEA Scout and its nine colleagues. The cubes are about 4 inches on the side. While some CubeSats are composed of three units in a row, the Artemis 1 are 6U.
The first CubeSat to be launched is a 12U. The planned lunar gateway space station, which astronauts will assemble during future Artemis missions, is one of the things that will be seen by Capstone. Smaller satellites can be used for cheaper research than larger ones which can cost hundreds of millions of dollars.
The NEA Scout will fly by the moon after it deploys from the SLS rocket. The sail will be packed into a small box and put into a third of the boat. Not for a while. Four metallic booms will open when we give that command. Les Johnson is the head of the NEA Scout technology team at Marshall Space Flight Center.
The reflective aluminum coating on the sail is thinner than foil but not sticky. The little spaceship's sail will propel the craft when it catches rays of light, instead of gusts of wind. Light reflecting off the sail gives up a small amount of energy, which is converted into an extra push on the sail.
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