Lunar Trailblazer: Multimedia
Spacecraft Artist Concepts
Lunar Trailblazer Over the Moon (Artist's Concept)
Lunar Trailblazer will detect signatures of water ice in reflected light, and it will pinpoint the locations of micro-cold traps less than a football field in size.
NASA's Lunar Trailblazer in Moon's Orbit (Artist's Concept)
Lunar Trailblazer approaches the Moon as it enters its science orbit. The small satellite will orbit about 60 miles (100 kilometers) above the lunar surface, producing maps of water on the Moon.
NASA's Lunar Trailblazer in Orbit Around the Moon (Artist's Concept)
This artist's concept depicts NASA's Lunar Trailblazer in lunar orbit about 60 miles (100 kilometers) from the surface of the Moon.
Spacecraft and Launch
Lunar Trailblazer Launches with Intuitive Machines (IM-2)
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying NASA's Lunar Trailblazer launches from Kennedy Space Center on Feb. 26, 2025. Lunar Trailblazer launched as a rideshare with the Intuitive Machines’ IM-2 mission (IM-2).
Lunar Trailblazer Rockets to Space
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying Lunar Trailblazer lifts off from Kennedy Space Center on Feb. 26, 2025. Lunar Trailblazer launched as a rideshare with the Intuitive Machines’ IM-2 mission.
Lunar Trailblazer Lifts Off
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying NASA's Lunar Trailblazer launches from Kennedy Space Center on Feb. 26, 2025. Lunar Trailblazer launched as a rideshare with the Intuitive Machines’ IM-2 mission (IM-2).
Lunar Trailblazer on the Launch Pad
Lunar Trailblazer on the launch pad atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
NASA's Lunar Trailblazer Fueled Before Launch
Lunar Trailblazer sits on its rotation fixture after being fueled and prior to being installed to the EELV Secondary Payload Adapter (ESPA) ring at SpaceX's Payload Processing Facility in NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Credit: SpaceX
NASA's Lunar Trailblazer Team Members Pose With Spacecraft
Members of NASA's Lunar Trailblazer team pose with the spacecraft at SpaceX's Payload Processing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida in early February 2025.
NASA's Lunar Trailblazer Deploys Its Solar Arrays After Testing
NASA's Lunar Trailblazer spacecraft sits in a clean room in August 2024 after undergoing environmental testing at Lockheed Martin Space in Littleton, Colorado.
Lunar Trailblazer Gets Bagged Up
NASA's Lunar Trailblazer spacecraft gets covered in anti-static wrap before being shipped from Lockheed Martin Space in Littleton, Colorado, to Florida, where it arrived on Jan. 29, 2025.
Lunar Trailblazer's HVM³ Imaging Spectrometer
The High-resolution Volatiles and Minerals Moon Mapper (HVM³) sits in a clean room at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California in early December 2022.
Lunar Trailblazer's Thermal Mapper
Seen here before being shipped from the U.K. to the U.S., the Lunar Thermal Mapper (LTM) is one of two instruments that will be carried by NASA's Lunar Trailblazer.
