The Lunar Trailblazer spacecraft, which will launch from Nasa’s Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, carries a state-of-the-art camera designed by a team of University of Oxford scientists to measure lunar surface temperature and confirm locations where water supplies may be found for future extraction.
The LTM camera will measure the surface temperature on the Moon, while an instrument known as the HVM3 made by scientists at Nasa’s jet propulsion laboratory will measure how sunlight is absorbed and reflected by water layers.
Prof Bowles said he hopes the mission will provide information on soil chemistry, whether the amount of water is usable, and whether “chemical processes are there so that we could make more water if we needed to”.
Scientists are set to launch a spacecraft this week to map water on the Moon, which could help future efforts to colonise its surface.
With the Trailblazer’s relatively small engines, the satellite will use the gravity of the Sun, Moon and Earth once it leaves the Falcon 9 rocket to guide it to the Moon’s surface.
