Lunar Trailblazer Blazes Through Its Critical Design Review

19 July 2021

Credit: Lockheed Martin Space for Lunar Trailblazer

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 (CDR). The culmination of many subsystem-level reviews held in the late spring and early summer, this review provides a final system-level look at the design and schedule of the mission. On July 15th, Lunar Trailblazer successfully passed CDR, meaning the team can proceed to full-scale fabrication of the spacecraft and all subsystems. The team received helpful questions and recommendations real-time from the board and anticipates the written report this week. The next significant Trailblazer development milestone will be its System Integration Review in May 2022. The project is scheduled to deliver its integrated flight system in October 2022. Lunar Trailblazer is manifested to launch on NASA's IMAP mission (2025) and insert into lunar orbit in summer 2025 (see Getting to the Moon). Congratulations to the Lunar Trailblazer team, and a big thank you for your hard work. Onward to the Moon!