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TrailBlazer 2001 [TransOrbital]
TrailBlazer 2001 was to be the first commercial lunar mission.
The TrailBlazer spacecraft was to be a multi-purpose spacecraft bus designed for missions beyond geosynchronous orbit. It is a microspacecraft, massing approximately 100 kg fueled - not including the solid-fuel Lunar Trans-Lunar Injection (TLI) Star-20 kick motor. The basic bus was to contain the following features:
- On-board mono-propellant maneuvering and attitude-control thrusters
- Redundant flight control computers
- Sun angle, Earth/Moon horizon, and star-field navigation and attitude-control sensors
- Inertial Measurement Unit for attitude sensing and control
- S-Band communications link
- Photovoltaic cells and batteries to provide power.
For the inaugural TrailBlazer lunar imaging mission the bus was to carry the following equipment:
- Two high-resolution video cameras and lenses:
- one medium field-of-view (FOV) for lunar surface mapping and
- one narrow FOV camera for high-resolution imaging of specific targets.
- A high data-rate X-band transmitter with a narrow-beam parabolic antenna.
A mass model (TrailBlazer-2001-Dummy) was launched in 2002 to test the launch dynamics. Apparently the project did not move forward and is now unlikely to take place.
| Nation: | USA |
|---|---|
| Type / Application: | Lunar orbiter |
| Operator: | TransOrbital, Inc. |
| Contractors: | TransOrbital, Inc. |
| Equipment: | |
| Configuration: | TrailBlazer Bus |
| Propulsion: | ? |
| Power: | Solar cells, batteries |
| Lifetime: | |
| Mass: | 100 kg |
| Orbit: | lunar orbit |
| Satellite | COSPAR | Date | LS | Launch Vehicle | Remarks | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TrailBlazer 2001 | - | cancelled | Ba LC-109/95 | Dnepr [Star-20] |
Launch Sites:
- Ba = Baikonur (Tyuratam, NIIP-5, GIK-5), Tyuratam, Kazakhstan
References:
- TransOrbital: Trailblazer-2001
