LUMIO: A CubeSat to Monitor Micro-meteroid Impacts on the Lunar Farside

The Lunar Meteoroid Impact Observer (LUMIO) is a CubeSat mission at the Earth-Moon Lagrangian point 2 (L2) designed to observe, quantify, and characterize the meteoroid impacts by detecting their flashes on the Lunar farside. LUMIO can be deployed as one of the payloads in the NASA Commercial Lunar Payload System or from Artemis-2 mission to a...

Current Status of LUMIO Mission: Characterizing Lunar Meteoroid Impacts with a CubeSat

The Lunar Meteoroid Impact Observer (LUMIO) is a mission designed to observe, quantify, and characterize the impacts of meteoroids on the lunar far side and, therefore, complement in both space and time the observations currently taken from Earth. While Earth-based lunar observations are restricted by weather, geometric and illumination...

Selection of the Propulsion System for the LUMIO Mission: an Intricate Trade-Off Between Cost, Reliability and Performance

The Lunar Meteoroid Impact Observer (LUMIO), one of the two winning concepts of the SysNova Lunar CubeSats for Exploration call by ESA, is a mission designed to observe, quantify, and characterize the meteoroid impacts on the Lunar far side by detecting the flashes generated by the impact. While Earth-based Lunar observations are restricted by...

The Radiation Environment and effects analysis of the LUMIO Mission

The Earth-Moon system is constantly bombarded by meteoroids of different size and impact speed. Observation of the impacts on the Moon can enable thorough characterization of the Lunar meteoroid flux, which is similar to that of the Earth. While Earth-based Lunar observations are restricted by weather, geometric and illumination conditions, a...

Designing the Radio Link for a Lunar CubeSat: the LUMIO Case

The Lunar Meteoroid Impact Observer (LUMIO) is a mission designed to observe, quantify, and characterize the meteoroid impacts by detecting their flashes on the lunar far side. Earth-based lunar observations are restricted by weather, geometric and illumination conditions, while a lunar orbiter can improve the detection rate of lunar meteoroid...

Design Challenges and Opportunities Offered by the LUMIO Spacecraft: a CubeSat for Observing and Characterizing Micro-Meteoroid Impacts on the Lunar Far Side

The Earth-Moon system is constantly bombarded by meteoroids of different size and impact speed. Observation of the impacts on the Moon can enable thorough characterization of the Lunar meteoroid flux, which is similar to that of the Earth. While Earth-based Lunar observations are restricted by weather, geometric and illumination conditions, a...

Phase A Design of the LUMIO Spacecraft: a CubeSat for Observing and Characterizing Micro-Meteoroid Impacts on the Lunar Far Side

The LUnar Meteoroid Impacts Observer (LUMIO) is a CubeSat mission to a halo orbit at Earth–Moon L2 that shall observe, quantify, and characterize meteoroid impacts on the Lunar farside, by detecting their flashes. In this way, LUMIO is expected to significantly contribute to Lunar Situational Awareness and to the current knowledge on the...

LUMIO: An Autonomous CubeSat for Lunar Exploration

The Lunar Meteoroid Impact Observer (LUMIO) is one of the four projects selected within ESA’s SysNova competition to develop a small satellite or scientific and technology demonstration purposes to be deployed by a mothership around the Moon. Themission utilizes a 12U form-factor CubeSat which carries the LUMIO-Cam, an optical instrument...

Dual Chemical-Electric Propulsion Systems Design for Interplanetary CubeSats

Interplanetary CubeSats enable universities and smallspacecraft- consortia to pursue low-cost, high-risk and highgain Solar System Exploration missions, especially Mars; for which cost-effective, reliable, and flexible space systems need to be developed. Missions to Mars can be achieved through a) in-situ deployment by a mothership and b) highly...

LUMIO: Characterizing Lunar Meteoroid Impacts with a CubeSat

The Lunar Meteoroid Impact Observer (LUMIO) is a mission designed to observe, quantify, and characterize the meteoroid impacts by detecting their flashes on the lunar farside. Earth-based lunar observations are restricted by weather, geometric, and illumination conditions, while a lunar orbiter can improve the detection rate of lunar meteoroid...

LUMIO: a CubeSat at Earth-Moon L2

The Lunar Meteoroid Impact Observer (LUMIO) is a CubeSat mission to observe, quantify, and characterize the meteoroid impacts by detecting their flashes on the lunar farside. LUMIO is one of the two winners of ESA’s LUCE (Lunar CubeSat for Exploration) SYSNOVA competition, and as such it is being considered by ESA for implementation in the near...