NASA’s Trailblazer Probe Suffers Glitch On Way To The Moon

Lunar Trailblazer, an 11.5-foot (3.5-meter), 440-pound (200-kilogram) probe, was launched to orbit low over the lunar surface to hunt for and map water deposits in permanently shadowed regions of the moon.

The probe's operators soon noticed power issues, and communication with the probe was lost approximately 12 hours after launch. I Photo: NASA Jet Propulsion Library

While the launch went smoothly, the spacecraft has encountered technical difficulties, NASA disclosed in an update, Brett Tingley reported for Space.com.

Lunar Trailblazer initially powered up and began transmitting data after launch. However, operators soon noticed power issues, and communication with the probe was lost approximately 12 hours after launch.

Mission operators at Caltech and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory were able to reestablish contact hours later but are still "working with NASA ground stations to reestablish telemetry and commanding to better assess the power system issues and develop potential solutions," according to the NASA update.

The probe, built by Lockheed Martin, carries two sophisticated instruments designed to search for lunar water. The Lunar Thermal Mapper (LTM) is designed to map the moon’s surface temperature using infrared light, which could help identify mineral distribution.

The High-resolution Volatiles and Minerals Moon Mapper (HVM3), built by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), measures how much sunlight reflects off the moon’s surface to detect the chemical "fingerprints" of hidden water.