萨里卫星技术

2023年3月19日

“萤火虫”的“蓝色幽灵”转移车正在将欧洲航天局的月球探路者卫星部署到月球轨道。欧洲航天局的月球探路者是由萨里卫星技术有限公司设计和开发的。欧空局与美国宇航局合作，通过CLPS计划进行交付。为了向月球背面运送多个有效载荷，包括一颗绕月球轨道运行的卫星，美国宇航局选择了德克萨斯州雪松公园的Firefly Aerospace公司。商业着陆器将提供两个机构有效载荷，以及一颗用于月球轨道的通信和数据中继卫星，这是欧洲航天局(ESA)与美国宇航局(NASA)合作的。合同授予的金额接近1.12亿美元，是一项商业月球交付，目标是通过NASA的商业月球有效载荷服务(CLPS)计划于2026年发射，也是该机构阿耳特米斯计划的一部分。这次发射的目标是月球背面的一个着陆点，两个有效载荷将永远远离地球。科学家们认为，这是太阳系中进行无线电观测的最佳地点之一，可以免受地球产生的噪音的影响。敏感的观测需要在长达14个地球日的月夜进行。其中一个被运送到月球表面的有效载荷旨在利用这个无线电安静区对宇宙进行低频天体物理学测量，重点关注被称为“黑暗时代”的时间，这是一个宇宙时代，开始于大爆炸后约37万年，一直持续到第一批恒星和星系形成。 Since there is no line of sight and no direct communication with Earth from the far side of the Moon, Firefly also is required to provide communication services. “NASA continues to look at ways to learn more about our universe,” said Nicola Fox, associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “Going to the lunar far side will help scientists understand some of the fundamental physics processes that occurred during the early evolution of the universe.” Firefly is responsible for end-to-end delivery services, including payload integration, delivery from Earth to the surface and orbit of the Moon, and NASA payload operations for the first lunar day. This is the second award to Firefly under the CLPS initiative. This award is the ninth surface delivery task award issued to a CLPS vendor, and the second to the far side . “We look forward to Firefly providing this CLPS delivery,” said Joel Kearns, the deputy associate administrator for exploration in NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. “This lunar landing should enable new scientific discoveries from the far side of the Moon during the lunar night. This particular group of payloads should not only generate new science but should be a pathfinder for future investigations exploiting this unique vantage point in our solar system.” The three payloads slated for delivery are expected to weigh in total about 1,090 pounds (494.5 kilograms). These payloads are: Lunar Surface Electromagnetics Experiment-Night ( LuSEE-Night ): A pathfinder to understand the Moon’s radio environment and to potentially take a first look at a previously unobserved era in our cosmic history. It will use deployable antennas and radio receivers to observe sensitive radio waves from the Dark Ages for the first time. LuSEE-Night, is a collaboration between the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory, the University of California, Berkeley, Space Science Laboratory, and NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. It is managed for NASA by the Planetary Missions Program Office at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Lunar Pathfinder : A communications and data relay satellite that will provide communication services to lunar missions via S-band and UHF links to lunar assets on the surface and in orbit around the Moon and an X-band link to Earth. ESA’s Lunar Pathfinder is designed and developed by Surrey Satellite Technology Limited. ESA collaborated with NASA for delivery through the CLPS initiative. User Terminal (UT): This payload will institute a new standard for S-Band Proximity-1 space communication protocol and establish space heritage. It will be used to commission the Lunar Pathfinder and ensure its readiness to provide communications service to LuSEE-Night. It consists of software-defined radio, an antenna, a network switch, and a sample data source. UT is in development by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. Commercial deliveries to the lunar surface with several providers continue to be part of NASA’s exploration efforts. Future CLPS deliveries could include more science experiments and technology demonstrations that further support the agency’s Artemis program