API VERSION: 1.2
API SOURCE: NASA/JPL Horizons API

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 Revised: Jun 27, 2023      Lunar Flashlight / Spacecraft (Moon)           -164
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/nasa-s-lunar-flashlight-ready-to-search-for-the-moon-s-water-ice

 UPDATE:
  A propulsion failure left LFL unable to reach lunar orbit. It remained in an
  eccentric Earth orbit and conducted a laser experiment with Earth sites on 
  May 17.

 BACKGROUND:
  Lunar Flashlight is a small technology demonstration 6U CubeSat that will use 
  near-infrared lasers and an onboard spectrometer to map ice in permanently 
  shadowed regions near the Moon's south pole. 
 
  The observations will provide unambiguous information about the presence of 
  water ice deposits inside craters that would be a valuable resource for 
  future Artemis missions to the lunar surface.

  LFL launched launch Dec 11 @ 7:38 UTC from Cape Canaveral SLS-40 aboard a 
  SpaceX Falcon 9 as a secondary payload with the Japanese Hakuto-R Lander 
  and UAE's Rashid 1 rover. LFL deployment Dec 11 @ ~08:31 UTC.

  After launch, the spacecraft will travel past the Moon.  It will then be 
  slowly pulled back by gravity from Earth and the Sun before it settles into 
  a wide, looping, science-gathering orbit. 

  This near-rectilinear halo orbit will take it 70,000 kilometers from the Moon
  at its most distant point and, at its closest approach, the satellite will 
  graze the surface of the Moon, 15 kilometers above the lunar South Pole.

 SPACECRAFT PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS:
   * Dimensions          : 10.0 x 22.73 x 36.6 cm (6U CubeSat)
   * Total mass          : 14 kg
   * Communications      : X-band, UHF (amateur radio accessible)

 SPACECRAFT TRAJECTORY:
  Final reconstructed trajectory from JPL navigation with prediction from
  2023-Jun-26 onward.

  Final update 2023-June-27:
   LFL has been left in a heliocentric orbit slightly closer to the Sun than 
   the Earth. As a resuilt, it is orbiting around the Sun slightly faster than
   the Earth. It is predicted that LFL will catch up to the Earth in late 2037.
 
  Trajectory name                                 Start (TDB)      Stop (TDB)
  -------------------------------------------  -----------------  -----------
  trj_lfl_221211-230627_380101_final_v1        2022-Dec-11 08:34  2038-Jan-01
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No ephemeris for target "Lunar Flashlight (spacecraft)" prior to A.D. 2022-DEC-11 08:31:24.4011 UT