Lunar Trailblazer

News & Highlights

4 August 2025

NASA’s Lunar Trailblazer Moon Mission Ends

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.
30 June 2025

NASA Extends Efforts to Recontact Lunar Trailblazer Until Early July

NASA has extended recovery efforts of its Lunar Trailblazer spacecraft from mid-June to early July.
30 April 2025

NASA Focuses Lunar Trailblazer Recontact Efforts Through Mid-June

As NASA continues work to reestablish command of its Lunar Trailblazer spacecraft, the mission team’s modeling indicates that the lighting conditions from May through mid-June are favorable to provide enough sunlight on the spacecraft’s solar panels to recharge the batteries to an operational level and potentially regain command of the spacecraft.
12 March 2025

NASA Continues Work to Command Lunar Trailblazer, Assess Options

Efforts to reestablish communications with NASA’s Lunar Trailblazer have continued since mission operators at Caltech’s IPAC lost contact with the small satellite Feb. 27, one day after launch.
4 March 2025

NASA Continuing Efforts to Contact, Command Lunar Trailblazer

The mission operations team for NASA’s Lunar Trailblazer at Caltech’s IPAC is continuing efforts to re-establish communications with the small satellite
27 February 2025

NASA Working to Reestablish Communications With Lunar Trailblazer

The team is now working with NASA ground stations to reestablish telemetry and commanding to better assess the power system issues and develop potential solutions.
26 February 2025

Initial Signal Acquired, NASA’s Lunar Trailblazer Powered Up

Mission operators at Caltech’s IPAC in Pasadena, California, have received an initial signal from NASA’s Lunar Trailblazer.

26 February 2025

NASA’s Lunar Trailblazer Spacecraft Separates From Falcon 9 Second Stage

The spacecraft is now expected to carry out a series of automated processes, including powering itself up, deploying its solar arrays, and orienting them toward the Sun.
26 February 2025

6 Things to Know About NASA’s Lunar Trailblazer

Despite its small size, Lunar Trailblazer is packed with cutting-edge technology that will deepen our understanding of lunar resources.
21 February 2025

NASA Sets Coverage for Intuitive Machines’ Next Commercial Moon Launch

Lunar Trailblazer will launch as a rideshare with the Intuitive Machines IM-2 mission, which is targeted to launch no earlier than Wednesday, Feb. 26.
13 February 2025

How NASA’s Lunar Trailblazer Will Make a Looping Voyage to the Moon

The small satellite will use the Sun, Earth, and Moon's gravity over several months to slowly enter lunar orbit, where it’ll map the Moon’s surface water.
4 February 2025

Lunar Trailblazer Team Practices Launch Readiness

An operations readiness test simulating the first 48 hours after launch was conducted at Caltech IPAC with teammates from JPL and Lockheed.

14 January 2025

Lunar Trailblazer as a SIMPLEx Mission

Lunar Trailblazer is part of the Small Innovative Missions for Planetary Exploration program.
16 September 2024

Reimagining Lunar Trailblazer’s Science Objectives

Lunar Trailblazer science communications intern Isabelle Adamczewski designed infographics describing Lunar Trailblazer’s science objectives.
26 July 2024

Animation: The Science Behind HVM3’s Search for Lunar Water Explained

Lunar Trailblazer intern and Pasadena City College student Emily Felder explains how HVM3’s advanced design will locate and differentiate lunar water.
16 August 2023

NASA’s Lunar Trailblazer Gets Final Payload for Moon Water Hunt

The spacecraft’s Lunar Thermal Mapper science instrument will work with an imaging spectrometer to help researchers understand the nature of water on the Moon’s surface.
23 June 2023

New Mission Infographic Summarizes Data to be Collected by Lunar Trailblazer

Created by PCC student and Lunar Trailblazer intern Filo Merid, the infographic depicts how Lunar Trailblazer’s instruments will lead to insights on lunar water and surface mineralogy.

8 March 2023

The Women of Lunar Trailblazer

As NASA prepares for the launch in 2023, Lockheed Martin is highlighting some of the women behind the design, engineering, manufacturing and testing of Lunar Trailblazer, the spacecraft set to map the lunar surface in an effort to find and study water on the Moon.
27 February 2023

LTM Instrument Arrives at Lockheed Martin

University of Oxford’s LTM instrument has been shipped to Lockheed Martin Space in Colorado for integration with the Lunar Trailblazer spacecraft.
10 February 2023

Explore the Moon and See Updated Lunar Trailblazer Targets

Lunar Trailblazer science communications intern Ellen Min designed and implemented key features to improve utility and useability of web-based three-dimensional moon targeting tool.

24 January 2023

Lunar Trailblazer and the Decadal Survey

High-resolution measurements from lunar orbit enable Lunar Trailblazer to contribute to answering many of the scientific questions outlined in the Decadal Survey.

13 January 2023

Lunar Geologic Settings

From craters that never get exposed to sunlight to brilliant lunar swirls, the Moon can be a very strange and mysterious place.

9 December 2022

HVM3 Instrument Integrated with Lunar Trailblazer

Lunar Trailblazer’s HVM3 instrument, built at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, has been delivered and integrated with the satellite at Lockheed Martin Space in Colorado.
14 November 2022

Lunar Trailblazer Begins ATLO (Assembly, Test, and Launch Operations) at Lockheed Martin Space

Lunar Trailblazer entered Phase D, commonly referred to as ATLO (Assembly, Test, and Launch Operations), at the end of October, and work has been underway at Lockheed Martin.
9 November 2022

Lunar Trailblazer Development Continues Following NASA Cost Review

Following a November 7, 2022 review of mission cost, risk, and schedule-to-go, NASA announced that the Lunar Trailblazer mission is approved to go forward toward its launch in mid-2023.
8 September 2022

Lunar Trailblazer Unveils Infographic of the Lunar Water Cycle

Created by PCC student and Lunar Trailblazer intern Sara Pooley, the infographic depicts processes that may contribute to the form and abundance of water on the lunar surface.
8 July 2022

Key Lunar Trailblazer Instrument Passes Milestone

The High-resolution Volatiles and Minerals Moon Mapper (HVM3) instrument recently completed a significant milestone in a clean room at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.
2 May 2022

What is Lunar Water?

The surface of the Moon is hydrated—but not from drinking eight glasses of water a day. Here’s a quick guide to the different forms of water that may be found on the Moon.
19 July 2021

Lunar Trailblazer Blazes Through Its Critical Design Review

On July 12th through 15th, Lunar Trailblazer presented materials to its review board, demonstrating maturity of the project’s design at the Critical Design Review...[more]
2 December 2020

Lunar Trailblazer is Now a Confirmed Mission!

For more information, see the official press releases by NASA and Caltech.

23 October 2020

Enhanced Communication Opportunity for NASA at the Moon

Lunar Trailblazer also presented the details of an Enhanced Communication Opportunity on Tuesday at its PDR to NASA stakeholders...[more]
21 October 2020

Lunar Trailblazer passes Preliminary Design Review!

On October 19-21, Lunar Trailblazer presented its design to the SIMPLEx standing review board. On Wednesday, we heard the good news from the chair...[more]
2 October 2020

Lunar Trailblazer Completes Final Table Top Review in Advance of Preliminary Design Review

Congratulations to Lockheed Martin and the Trailblazer Team for completion of the Flight System Table Top Review with board report received today. This was Trailblazer’s fifth and final “table top review” prior to the Preliminary Design Review, which occurs the week of October 19th.
19 August 2020

New Interactive Timeline of Lunar Water Research Unveiled on Lunar Trailblazer Website

The webpage, conceptualized and created by Pasadena City College intern Liberty Locsin, documents major milestones in the history of exploration for water on the Moon.
18 August 2020

Lockheed Martin Selected as New Flight System Partner for Lunar Trailblazer

The Denver-Based Organization Will Design and Build the Spacecraft, Integrate the Instruments, And Work with Rideshare Services to Ready Lunar Trailblazer as a Secondary Payload for Launch.
30 July 2020

Trailblazer Intern Hongyu Cui Explains Her Artistic Process to Visualize Ice in the Moon’s Shadows

The Pasadena City College Interaction Design student describes the challenges involved in translating a scientific concept into a realistic graphic composition to visualize water ice in the Moon’s polar craters.
6 March 2020

New Animation Explains How Lunar Trailblazer Will Identify Lunar Water

The animation was developed by Pasadena City College intern Emily Felder and explains why Lunar Trailblazer needs both an infrared imaging spectrometer and a thermal imager.
10 January 2020

New Trailblazer Illustration Depicts Water Ice in the Moon’s Permanently Shadowed Regions

The graphic, created by Pasadena City College intern Hongyu Cui, shows what water ice might look like in the Moon’s polar craters.
7 October 2019

Lunar Trailblazer Debuts New Mission Patch

The patch, which comes in seven different colors, features symbology representing how water is detected on the Moon’s surface by Lunar Trailblazer.