Oxford Scientists Send Thermal Imaging Camera to the Moon on NASA’s Lunar Trailblazer Mission

On Wednesday, February 26, a state-of-the-art thermal imaging camera designed by researchers at the University of Oxford’s Department of Physics will launch to the Moon as part of NASA’s Lunar Trailblazer mission. This groundbreaking mission aims to map lunar water sources, offering crucial insights into the Moon’s water cycle and paving the way for future robotic and human space exploration.

Once in lunar orbit, the 200kg spacecraft—roughly the size of a washing machine—will scan the Moon’s surface 12 times a day. With a high-resolution imaging system (50 metres per pixel), it will capture detailed temperature and composition maps of the lunar landscape.

One of its key objectives is to examine the permanently shadowed craters near the Moon’s South Pole, where vast reserves of frozen water—potentially 600 million metric tons—may be hidden. These water ice deposits could be a game-changer for future lunar missions, offering resources for:

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By identifying accessible water sources, NASA’s Lunar Trailblazer will play a vital role in shaping the future of sustainable lunar exploration. This mission is a major step toward long-term human presence on the Moon, supporting initiatives like Artemis and beyond.

Lunar Trailblazer was a NASA’s Small Innovative Missions for Planetary Exploration (SIMPLEx) selection in 2019, which provides opportunities for low-cost science spacecraft to ride-share with selected primary missions. The spacecraft will launch as a secondary payload on a planned lunar lander mission led by Intuitive Machines, effectively hitchhiking on the larger spacecraft, which will attempt a soft landing on the Moon.

Since the spacecraft has a relatively small engine, its planned trajectory will use the gravity of the Sun, Earth, and Moon to guide it to the final orbit — a technique called low-energy transfer. The momentum provided by the rocket booster will propel the spacecraft past the Moon and into deep space before it is pulled back by gravity. The spacecraft will then use small thruster bursts to slowly correct its orbit until it is about 60 miles (100 kilometers) above the Moon’s surface. In all, Lunar Trailblazer should take between four and seven months to arrive in its final orbit.

“The Lunar Thermal Mapper was designed, built and tested here in Oxford and the launch is an important moment for the whole of our team,” said Professor Neil Bowles, Instrument Scientist for LTM at the University of Oxford’s Department of Physics. “The measurements of temperature will help confirm the presence of the water signal in HVM3’s measurements and the two instruments will work together to map the composition of the Moon, showing us details that have only been hinted at previously.”

The mission could also reveal why the Moon has water in the first place. Possible reasons include comets and ‘wet asteroids’ crashing into the Moon; ancient volcanic eruptions disgorging water vapor from the Moon’s interior; or hydrogen within the solar wind combining with oxygen on the Moon. Lunar Trailblazer’s findings will shed light on which hypothesis is more likely.