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1. Lunar Orbit Insertion
Mothership + Separation Module + Penetrators arrive at the Moon and inject into lunar orbit.
Science-grade penetrator with broadband seismometry and a surface-resident aft-body assembly. Day-side and PSR (permanently-shadowed region) variants.
Specifications
| Class | Science-grade lunar penetrator |
|---|---|
| Mass / length | 12 kg-class / 100 cm — 70 cm forebody + 30 cm aft-body (design target) |
| Penetration depth | 1–5 m (design target) |
| Primary instrument | 3-axis broadband seismometer (in-house design) |
| Auxiliary sensing | Heat flow, dielectric, high-G accelerometer, gyro |
| Aft-body | Surface-resident comms / power assembly (solar array + 30–50 Wh Li-ion) |
| Operational life | 2 years (confirmation target) / 5 years (goal) |
| Variants | Day-side / PSR (primary-battery variant, 100–500 day life) |
| Status | Design phase (commercial deployment target) |
Mission Flow
How a penetrator gets from orbit to subsurface — common to both Mini and Max.
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2. Establish Mothership Orbit
The mothership settles into a ~100 km polar orbit and prepares observation systems.
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3. Module Separation
Separation modules are released — mini: 25 units × 4 modules / max: 3 units × 3 modules.
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4. Retro Burn (Deceleration)
ΔV ≈ 1,900 m/s cancels horizontal velocity for vertical descent.
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5. Low Altitude Hover
At ~7 km altitude, surface-relative velocity is driven near zero.
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6. Penetrator Drop
Free fall ~30 seconds, reaching an impact velocity of about 150 m/s.
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7. Impact & Penetration
Peak deceleration ≈ 10,000 G; the penetrator buries 1–5 m into the regolith.
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8. Continued Observation
The mothership relays terahertz / microwave / camera / penetrator data to Earth over 3–5 years.
Gallery
