Lunar Flashlight is scheduled to launch as a secondary payload on Intuitive Machines’ IM-1 lunar lander mission, slated for no earlier than late 2022.
Jet Propulsion Laboratory has received the Lunar Flashlight propulsion system, but full integration and testing may not be completed in time for Artemis 1.
The COVID-19 pandemic slowed development of Lunar Flashlight’s new propulsion system, which uses a green nontoxic propellant and is being developed by a group led by the Georgia Institute of Technology.
Lunar Flashlight is being developed at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory to search for water ice deposits on the Moon using lasers.
MMA HaWK arrays will support five small satellites launching on the first Space Launch System (SLS) launch later in 2021: NASA’s LunaH-Map, Lunar Flashlight, Near Earth Asteroid Scout (NEAScout), BioSentinel, and JAXA’s EQUULEUS.