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By NASA
With one of its solar arrays deployed, NASA’s Lunar Trailblazer sits in a clean room at Lockheed Martin Space in Colorado during testing in August 2024. The mission was to investigate the nature of the Moon’s water, but controllers lost contact with the spacecraft a day after launch in February 2025.Lockheed Martin Space The small satellite was to map lunar water, but operators lost contact with the spacecraft the day after launch and were unable to recover the mission.
NASA’s Lunar Trailblazer ended its mission to the Moon on July 31. Despite extensive efforts, mission operators were unable to establish two-way communications after losing contact with the spacecraft the day following its Feb. 26 launch.
The mission aimed to produce high-resolution maps of water on the Moon’s surface and determine what form the water is in, how much is there, and how it changes over time. The maps would have supported future robotic and human exploration of the Moon as well as commercial interests while also contributing to the understanding of water cycles on airless bodies throughout the solar system.
Lunar Trailblazer shared a ride on the second Intuitive Machines robotic lunar lander mission, IM-2, which lifted off at 7:16 p.m. EST on Feb. 26 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The small satellite separated as planned from the rocket about 48 minutes after launch to begin its flight to the Moon. Mission operators at Caltech’s IPAC in Pasadena established communications with the small spacecraft at 8:13 p.m. EST. Contact was lost the next day.
Without two-way communications, the team was unable to fully diagnose the spacecraft or perform the thruster operations needed to keep Lunar Trailblazer on its flight path.
“At NASA, we undertake high-risk, high-reward missions like Lunar Trailblazer to find revolutionary ways of doing new science,” said Nicky Fox, associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “While it was not the outcome we had hoped for, mission experiences like Lunar Trailblazer help us to learn and reduce the risk for future, low-cost small satellites to do innovative science as we prepare for a sustained human presence on the Moon. Thank you to the Lunar Trailblazer team for their dedication in working on and learning from this mission through to the end.”
The limited data the mission team had received from Lunar Trailblazer indicated that the spacecraft’s solar arrays were not properly oriented toward the Sun, which caused its batteries to become depleted.
For several months, collaborating organizations around the world — many of which volunteered their assistance — listened for the spacecraft’s radio signal and tracked its position. Ground radar and optical observations indicated that Lunar Trailblazer was in a slow spin as it headed farther into deep space.
“As Lunar Trailblazer drifted far beyond the Moon, our models showed that the solar panels might receive more sunlight, perhaps charging the spacecraft’s batteries to a point it could turn on its radio,” said Andrew Klesh, Lunar Trailblazer’s project systems engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. “The global community’s support helped us better understand the spacecraft’s spin, pointing, and trajectory. In space exploration, collaboration is critical — this gave us the best chance to try to regain contact.”
However, as time passed, Lunar Trailblazer became too distant to recover as its telecommunications signals would have been too weak for the mission to receive telemetry and to command.
Technological Legacy
The small satellite’s High-resolution Volatiles and Minerals Moon Mapper (HVM3) imaging spectrometer was built by JPL to detect and map the locations of water and minerals. The mission’s Lunar Thermal Mapper (LTM) instrument was built by the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom and funded by the UK Space Agency to gather temperature data and determine the composition of silicate rocks and soils to improve understanding of why water content varies over time.
“We’re immensely disappointed that our spacecraft didn’t get to the Moon, but the two science instruments we developed, like the teams we brought together, are world class,” said Bethany Ehlmann, the mission’s principal investigator at Caltech. “This collective knowledge and the technology developed will cross-pollinate to other projects as the planetary science community continues work to better understand the Moon’s water.”
Some of that technology will live on in the JPL-built Ultra Compact Imaging Spectrometer for the Moon (UCIS-Moon) instrument that NASA recently selected for a future orbital flight opportunity. The instrument, which has has an identical spectrometer design as HVM3, will provide the Moon’s highest spatial resolution data of surface lunar water and minerals.
More About Lunar Trailblazer
Lunar Trailblazer was selected by NASA’s SIMPLEx (Small Innovative Missions for Planetary Exploration) competition, which provides opportunities for low-cost science spacecraft to ride-share with selected primary missions. To maintain the lower overall cost, SIMPLEx missions have a higher risk posture and less-stringent requirements for oversight and management. This higher risk acceptance bolsters NASA’s portfolio of targeted science missions designed to test pioneering mission approaches.
Caltech, which manages JPL for NASA, led Lunar Trailblazer’s science investigation, and Caltech’s IPAC led mission operations, which included planning, scheduling, and sequencing of all spacecraft activities. Along with managing Lunar Trailblazer, NASA JPL provided system engineering, mission assurance, the HVM3 instrument, and mission design and navigation. Lockheed Martin Space provided the spacecraft, integrated the flight system, and supported operations under contract with Caltech. The University of Oxford developed and provided the LTM instrument, funded by the UK Space Agency. Lunar Trailblazer, a project of NASA’s Lunar Discovery and Exploration Program, was managed by NASA’s Planetary Missions Program Office at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, for the agency’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington.
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Karen Fox / Molly Wasser
NASA Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
karen.c.fox@nasa.gov / molly.l.wasser@nasa.gov
Ian J. O’Neill
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-354-2649
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Isabel Swafford
Caltech IPAC
626-216-4257
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By NASA
4 min read
NASA, JAXA XRISM Satellite X-rays Milky Way’s Sulfur
An international team of scientists have provided an unprecedented tally of elemental sulfur spread between the stars using data from the Japan-led XRISM (X-ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission) spacecraft.
Astronomers used X-rays from two binary star systems to detect sulfur in the interstellar medium, the gas and dust found in the space between stars. It’s the first direct measurement of both sulfur’s gas and solid phases, a unique capability of X-ray spectroscopy, XRISM’s (pronounced “crism”) primary method of studying the cosmos.
“Sulfur is important for how cells function in our bodies here on Earth, but we still have a lot of questions about where it’s found out in the universe,” said Lía Corrales, an assistant professor of astronomy at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. “Sulfur can easily change from a gas to a solid and back again. The XRISM spacecraft provides the resolution and sensitivity we need to find it in both forms and learn more about where it might be hiding.”
A paper about these results, led by Corrales, published June 27 in the Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan.
Watch to learn how the XRISM (X-ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission) satellite took an unprecidented look at our galaxy’s sulfur. XRISM is led by JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) in collaboration with NASA, along with contributions from ESA (European Space Agency).
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Using ultraviolet light, researchers have found gaseous sulfur in the space between stars. In denser parts of the interstellar medium, such as the molecular clouds where stars and planets are born, this form of sulfur quickly disappears.
Scientists assume the sulfur condenses into a solid, either by combining with ice or mixing with other elements.
When a doctor performs an X-ray here on Earth, they place the patient between an X-ray source and a detector. Bone and tissue absorb different amounts of the light as it travels through the patient’s body, creating contrast in the detector.
To study sulfur, Corrales and her team did something similar.
They picked a portion of the interstellar medium with the right density — not so thin that all the X-rays would pass through unchanged, but also not so dense that they would all be absorbed.
Then the team selected a bright X-ray source behind that section of the medium, a binary star system called GX 340+0 located over 35,000 light-years away in the southern constellation Scorpius.
This composite shows a section of the interstellar medium scientists X-rayed for sulfur using the Japan-led XRISM (X-ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission). X-ray binary GX 340+0 is the blue dot in the center. The composite contains a blend of imagery in X-rays (represented in deep blue), infrared, and optical light.DSS/DECaPS/eRosita/NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center This composite shows a section of the interstellar medium scientists X-rayed for sulfur using the Japan-led XRISM (X-ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission). The X-ray binary 4U 1630–472 is highlighted at the center. The composite contains a blend of imagery in X-rays (represented in deep blue), infrared, and optical light.DSS/DECaPS/eRosita/NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Using the Resolve instrument on XRISM, the scientists were able to measure the energy of GX 340+0’s X-rays and determined that sulfur was present not only as a gas, but also as a solid, possibly mixed with iron.
“Chemistry in environments like the interstellar medium is very different from anything we can do on Earth, but we modeled sulfur combined with iron, and it seems to match what we’re seeing with XRISM,” said co-author Elisa Costantini, a senior astronomer at the Space Research Organization Netherlands and the University of Amsterdam. “Our lab has created models for different elements to compare with astronomical data for years. The campaign is ongoing, and soon we’ll have new sulfur measurements to compare with the XRISM data to learn even more.”
Iron-sulfur compounds are often found in meteorites, so scientists have long thought they might be one way sulfur solidifies out of molecular clouds to travel through the universe.
In their paper, Corrales and her team propose a few compounds that would match XRISM’s observations — pyrrhotite, troilite, and pyrite, which is sometimes called fool’s gold.
The researchers were also able to use measurements from a second X-ray binary called 4U 1630-472 that helped confirm their findings.
“NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory has previously studied sulfur, but XRISM’s measurements are the most detailed yet,” said Brian Williams, the XRISM project scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “Since GX 340+0 is on the other side of the galaxy from us, XRISM’s X-ray observations are a unique probe of sulfur in a large section of the Milky Way. There’s still so much to learn about the galaxy we call home.”
XRISM is led by JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) in collaboration with NASA, along with contributions from ESA (European Space Agency). NASA and JAXA developed Resolve, the mission’s microcalorimeter spectrometer.
Download images and videos through NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio. By Jeanette Kazmierczak
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
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Last Updated Jul 23, 2025 EditorJeanette Kazmierczak Related Terms
Goddard Space Flight Center Astrophysics Stars The Universe X-ray Astronomy X-ray Binaries XRISM (X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission) View the full article
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By NASA
4 Min Read Vision Changes on Space Station
NASA astronaut Jonny Kim, assisted by JAXA astronaut Takuya Onishi, performs an eye ultrasound on the International Space Station. Credits: NASA Science in Space July 2025
When astronauts began spending six months and more aboard the International Space Station, they started to notice changes in their vision. For example, many found that, as their mission progressed, they needed stronger reading glasses. Researchers studying this phenomenon identified swelling in the optic disc, which is where the optic nerve enters the retina, and flattening of the eye shape. These symptoms became known as Space-Associated Neuro-Ocular Syndrome (SANS).
NASA astronaut Suni Williams wears a cuff on her left leg as she conducts an eye exam for the Thigh Cuff investigation.NASA Microgravity causes a person’s blood and cerebrospinal fluid to shift toward the head and studies have suggested that these fluid shifts may be an underlying cause of SANS. A current investigation, Thigh Cuff, examines whether tight leg cuffs change the way fluid moves around inside the body, especially around the eyes and in the heart and blood vessels. If so, the cuffs could serve as a countermeasure against the problems associated with fluid shifts, including SANS. A simple and easy-to-use tool to counter the headward shift of body fluids could help protect astronauts on future missions to the Moon and Mars. The cuffs also could treat conditions on Earth that cause fluid to build up in the head or upper body, such as long-term bed rest and certain diseases.
Following fluid shifts
NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough sets up optical coherence tomography hardware.NASA The Fluid Shifts investigation, conducted from 2015 through 2020, was the first to reveal changes in how blood drains from the brain in microgravity. Vision Impairment and Intracranial Pressure (VIIP) began testing the role those fluid shifts and resulting increased brain fluid pressure might play in the development of SANS. This research used a variety of measures including clinical eye exams with and without dilatation, imaging of the retina and associated blood vessels and nerves, noninvasive imaging to measure the thickness of retinal structures, and magnetic resonance imaging of the eye and optic nerve. In addition, approximately 300 astronauts completed questionnaires to document vision changes during their missions.
In one paper published from the research, scientists described how these imaging techniques have improved the understanding of SANS. The authors summarized emerging research on developing a head-mounted virtual reality display that can conduct multimodal, noninvasive assessment to help diagnose SANS.
Other researchers determined that measuring the optic nerve sheath diameter shows promise as a way to identify and quantify eye and vision changes during spaceflight. The paper also makes recommendations for standardizing imaging tools, measurement techniques, and other aspects of study design.
Another paper reported on an individual astronaut who had more severe than usual changes after a six-month spaceflight and certain factors that may have contributed. Researchers also observed improvement in the individual’s symptoms that may have been due to B vitamin supplementation and lower cabin carbon dioxide levels following departure of some crew members. While a single case does not allow researchers to determine cause and effect, the magnitude of the improvements suggest this individual may be more affected by environmental conditions such as carbon dioxide. This may have been the first attempt to mitigate SANS with inflight B vitamin supplementation.
Eyeball tissue stiffness
Optical coherence tomography image of the back of the eyeball (top) and thickness of the middle wall of the eye (bottom) from the SANSORI investigation.University of Montreal SANSORI, a CSA (Canadian Space Agency) investigation, used an imaging technique called Optical Coherence Tomography to examine whether reduced stiffness of eye tissue contributes to SANS. On Earth, changes in stiffness of the tissue around the eyeball have been associated with aging and conditions such as glaucoma and myopia. Researchers found that long-duration spaceflight affected the mechanical properties of eye tissues, which could contribute to the development of SANS. This finding could improve understanding of eye changes during spaceflight and in aging patients on Earth.
Genetic changes, artificial gravity
The MHU-8 investigation from JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency), which examined changes in DNA and gene expression in mice after spaceflight, found changes in the optic nerve and retinal tissue. Researchers also found that artificial gravity may reduce these changes and could serve as a countermeasure on future missions.
These and other studies ultimately could help researchers prevent, diagnose, and treat vision impairment in crew members and people on Earth.
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By NASA
Melissa Harris’ official NASA portrait. NASA/Robert Markowitz With over 25 years of experience in human spaceflight programs, Melissa Harris has contributed to numerous programs and projects during key moments in NASA’s history. As the life cycle lead and Independent Review Team review manager for the Commercial Low Earth Orbit Development Program, she guides the agency through development initiatives leading to a new era of space exploration.
Harris grew up near NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston and spent time exploring the center and trying on astronaut helmets. She later earned her bachelor’s degree in legal studies from the University of Houston, master and subject matter expert certifications in configuration management, and ISO 9001 Lead Auditors Certification. When the opportunity arose, she jumped at the chance to join the International Space Station Program.
Harris (right) and her twin sister, Yvonne (left), at the Artemis I launch. Image courtesy of Melissa Harris Starting as a board specialist, Harris spent eight years supporting the space station program boards, panels, and flight reviews. Other areas of support included the International Space Station Mission Evaluation Room and the EVA Crew Systems and Robotics Division managing changes for the acquisition and building of mockups in the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory and Space Vehicle Mockup Facility in Houston. She then took a leap to join the Constellation Program, developing and overseeing program and project office processes and procedures. Harris then transitioned to the Extravehicular Activity (EVA) Project Office where she was a member of the EVA 23 quality audit team tasked with reviewing data to determine the cause of an in-orbit failure. She also contributed to the Orion Program and Artemis campaign. After spending two years at Axiom Space, Harris returned to NASA and joined the commercial low Earth orbit team.
Harris said the biggest lesson she has learned during her career is that “there are always ups and downs and not everything works out, but if you just keep going and at the end of the day see that the hard work and dedication has paid off, it is always the proudest moment.”
Her dedication led to a nomination for the Stellar Award by the Rotary National Award for Space Achievement Foundation.
Harris and her son, Tyler, at the Rotary National Award Banquet in 2024.Image courtesy of Melissa Harris Harris’ favorite part of her role at NASA is working “closely with brilliant minds” and being part of a dedicated and hard-working team that contributes to current space programs while also planning for future programs. Looking forward, she anticipates witnessing the vision and execution of a self-sustaining commercial market in low Earth orbit come to fruition.
Outside of work, Harris enjoys being with family, whether cooking on the back porch, over a campfire, or traveling both in and out of the country. She has been married for 26 years to her high school sweetheart, Steve, and has one son, Tyler. Her identical twin sister, Yvonne, also works at Johnson.
Harris and her twin sister Yvonne dressed as Mark and Scott Kelly for Halloween in 2024.Image courtesy of Melissa Harris Learn more about NASA’s Commercial Low Earth Orbit Development Program at:
www.nasa.gov/commercialspacestations
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By NASA
An artist’s concept design of NASA’s Lunar Terrain Vehicle.Credit: NASA NASA has selected three instruments to travel to the Moon, with two planned for integration onto an LTV (Lunar Terrain Vehicle) and one for a future orbital opportunity.
The LTV is part of NASA’s efforts to explore the lunar surface as part of the Artemis campaign and is the first crew-driven vehicle to operate on the Moon in more than 50 years. Designed to hold up to two astronauts, as well as operate remotely without a crew, this surface vehicle will enable NASA to achieve more of its science and exploration goals over a wide swath of lunar terrain.
“The Artemis Lunar Terrain Vehicle will transport humanity farther than ever before across the lunar frontier on an epic journey of scientific exploration and discovery,” said Nicky Fox, associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “By combining the best of human and robotic exploration, the science instruments selected for the LTV will make discoveries that inform us about Earth’s nearest neighbor as well as benefit the health and safety of our astronauts and spacecraft on the Moon.”
The Artemis Infrared Reflectance and Emission Spectrometer (AIRES) will identify, quantify, and map lunar minerals and volatiles, which are materials that evaporate easily, like water, ammonia, or carbon dioxide. The instrument will capture spectral data overlaid on visible light images of both specific features of interest and broad panoramas to discover the distribution of minerals and volatiles across the Moon’s south polar region. The AIRES instrument team is led by Phil Christensen from Arizona State University in Tempe.
The Lunar Microwave Active-Passive Spectrometer (L-MAPS) will help define what is below the Moon’s surface and search for possible locations of ice. Containing both a spectrometer and a ground-penetrating radar, the instrument suite will measure temperature, density, and subsurface structures to more than 131 feet (40 meters) below the surface. The L-MAPS instrument team is led by Matthew Siegler from the University of Hawaii at Manoa.
When combined, the data from the two instruments will paint a picture of the components of the lunar surface and subsurface to support human exploration and will uncover clues to the history of rocky worlds in our solar system. The instruments also will help scientists characterize the Moon’s resources, including what the Moon is made of, potential locations of ice, and how the Moon changes over time.
In addition to the instruments selected for integration onto the LTV, NASA also selected the Ultra-Compact Imaging Spectrometer for the Moon (UCIS-Moon) for a future orbital flight opportunity. The instrument will provide regional context to the discoveries made from the LTV. From above, UCIS-Moon will map the Moon’s geology and volatiles and measure how human activity affects those volatiles. The spectrometer also will help identify scientifically valuable areas for astronauts to collect lunar samples, while its wide-view images provide the overall context for where these samples will be collected. The UCIS-Moon instrument will provide the Moon’s highest spatial resolution data of surface lunar water, mineral makeup, and thermophysical properties. The UCIS-Moon instrument team is led by Abigail Fraeman from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.
“Together, these three scientific instruments will make significant progress in answering key questions about what minerals and volatiles are present on and under the surface of the Moon,” said Joel Kearns, deputy associate administrator for Exploration, Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters. “With these instruments riding on the LTV and in orbit, we will be able to characterize the surface not only where astronauts explore, but also across the south polar region of the Moon, offering exciting opportunities for scientific discovery and exploration for years to come.”
Leading up to these instrument selections, NASA has worked with all three lunar terrain vehicle vendors – Intuitive Machines, Lunar Outpost, and Venturi Astrolab – to complete their preliminary design reviews. This review demonstrates that the initial design of each commercial lunar rover meets all of NASA’s system requirements and shows that the correct design options have been selected, interfaces have been identified, and verification methods have been described. NASA will evaluate the task order proposals received from each LTV vendor and make a selection decision on the demonstration mission by the end of 2025.
Through Artemis, NASA will address high priority science questions, focusing on those that are best accomplished by on-site human explorers on and around the Moon by using robotic surface and orbiting systems. The Artemis missions will send astronauts to explore the Moon for scientific discovery, economic benefits, and build the foundation for the first crewed missions to Mars.
To learn more about Artemis, visit:
https://www.nasa.gov/artemis
-end-
Karen Fox / Molly Wasser
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
karen.c.fox@nasa.gov / molly.l.wasser@nasa.gov
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Last Updated Jul 10, 2025 LocationNASA Headquarters Related Terms
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