Lunar Surface Electromagnetics Experiment-Night (LuSEE-Night)¶
Blue Ghost Mission 2 · manifested · NASA payload
A small radio telescope that stays on the lander's top deck on the Moon's far side. Four 3-meter antennas on a turntable feed a spectrometer that records the radio sky below 50 MHz. It aims to be a pathfinder for lunar radio astronomy and to look for the faint signal of the cosmic Dark Ages. It runs on its own battery through the 14-day lunar night, with no nuclear heat source, for up to two years.
PI: Stuart D. Bale (UC Berkeley), NASA PI. DOE lead: AnĹľe Slosar (Brookhaven); DOE project manager: Sven Herrmann (Brookhaven).
Built by: UC Berkeley Space Sciences Laboratory (lead and integration, NASA side), with DOE's Brookhaven National Laboratory (spectrometer, power and communication parts) and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (antennas). JPL built the parabolic reflector radiator under an STMD project. Managed for NASA by the Planetary Missions Program Office at NASA Marshall. (university)
| Technology | science instrument (radio astronomy), with self-contained power and lunar-night survival |
| Moon Base need | #0301 (Partly NASA's link. NASA's Moon Base Phases page names Blue Ghost Mission 2 among the Phase One assets and describes LuSEE-Night there. NASA also says LuSEE-Night's lunar-night survival technology matters for long-term surface work and a sustained human presence. The tie to gap #0301 (surviving long lunar shadow) by ID is the study's reading. LuSEE-Night is a science instrument first; its Moon Base value is the night-survival demonstration (battery, insulation, heat switches, radiator) for a small payload with no nuclear heat source.) |
| Route onto CLPS | LSITP; Grew out of LuSEE, one of the 12 Lunar Surface Instrument and Technology Payloads NASA selected on 1 July 2019 (PI Stuart Bale). In early 2020 NASA partnered with DOE to make LuSEE a low-frequency radio pathfinder, and LuSEE-Night was split off; the rest became LuSEE-Lite (on Draper's far-side delivery, since cancelled). NASA's LSITP page lists LuSEE-Night as a follow-on to LuSEE. NASA assigned it to Firefly's task order CS-3, awarded on 14 March 2023 (just under USD 112 million). A follow-on order (CS-4, about USD 18 million per the University of Colorado) pays Firefly's Elytra orbiter to give LuSEE-Night a calibration signal. This replaces the earlier feeder-line map's 'OTHER' route: the instrument paper traces LuSEE-Night to the LSITP selection.; 2019-07-01 |
| Timeline | first funding 2019-12-18 (LSITP contract 80MSFC20C0025 for LuSEE); LuSEE-Night split off in early 2020; its own NASA contract from 2022-08-17 (80MSFC23CA015, replacing 80MSFC22CA018); first flight test No flight of a LuSEE-Night unit. Predecessor design: Parker Solar Probe FIELDS/RFS, flown before LuSEE-Night's 2019-2023 design work.; selected 2019-07-01 (LuSEE); task order CS-3 to Firefly 2023-03-14; launch Not yet launched. NASA's 2023 award: 2026. Wikipedia (revision of 26 Sep 2026): planned for 2027; March 2026 reporting it cites: no earlier than December 2026.; landing not in public sources |
| On the Moon | not yet flown |
| FO | none |
Flights before the Moon¶
- Earth orbit or deep space: Parker Solar Probe, FIELDS instrument's Radio Frequency Spectrometer (RFS), not in public sources. The design LuSEE-Night's spectrometer follows, with only small changes (bandwidth, gain, number of input channels); also the fixed-frequency power-supply switching used to mask converter noise. The team calls Parker Solar Probe a 'successful predecessor mission'. A predecessor design flown on another mission, not LuSEE-Night hardware.
"design follows the successful predecessor mission of Parker Solar Probe (PSP)4 as much as possible due to its"
— osti.gov: 2500292, Tamura et al., SPIE 2024, BNL-226478-2025-JAAM"The spectrometer design is based on the Radio Frequency Spectrometer (RFS)"
— arxiv.org: 2301.10345
Heritage hardware¶
- design heritage (spectrometer): The spectrometer follows the Radio Frequency Spectrometer of the FIELDS instrument on Parker Solar Probe (flying since 2018), with only small changes to bandwidth, gain and channel count. The original 2019 LuSEE was to reuse FIELDS, STEREO/Waves and MAVEN flight spares; no source says LuSEE-Night carries flight spares.
"The spectrometer design is based on the Radio Frequency Spectrometer (RFS) system [10] from the Parker Solar Probe/FIELDS instrument"
— arxiv.org: 2301.10345"Only minimal changes have been made to modify the bandwidth, the gain, and the number of input channels."
— osti.gov: 2500292"LuSEE will integrate flight-spare and repurposed hardware from the NASA [Parker Solar Probe]"
— NASA Selects 12 New Lunar Science, Technology Investigations - NASA, the 2019 LuSEE
- design heritage (antennas, power supply): The antennas are 3-meter beryllium-copper STACER elements. The DC-DC converters switch at fixed frequencies so the noise can be masked, a method used on Parker Solar Probe.
"Night uses 3m BeCu stacer antenna elements"
— arxiv.org: 2301.10345"This technique was used very successfully on Parker Solar Probe."
— arxiv.org: 2301.10345
- design heritage (battery): The battery uses ABSL's space-qualified 18650 cells; the paper says the design is a heritage design, similar to one delivered for Europa Clipper.
"The battery design is a heritage design and similar battery is delivered for"
— osti.gov: 3028965, BNL-229654-2026-JAAM, Feb 2026
- ground-tested technology (radiator): The parabolic reflector radiator comes from STMD's PALETTE thermal toolbox (TechPort 116359, 2020-2023). A one-ninth-scale unit was vibration and thermal-vacuum tested, reaching a 239 K sink temperature against a 231 K goal. Ground tests only.
"In TVAC testing, the measured PRR radiative sink temperature that was achieved with the subscale PRR test unit was 239 K."
— TechPort project 146999, description
- no heritage for lunar-night survival: Brookhaven's project manager says there is no heritage mission to guide the night-survival design; earlier night survivors used nuclear heat or ran differently.
"we don’t have a heritage mission to draw direct guidance from"
— Scientists and Engineers Craft Radio Telescope Bound for the Moon, Sven Herrmann
Funding before the lunar flight¶
- NASA contract 80MSFC23CA015 to the University of California (Berkeley), NASA Marshall: 'design, develop, and deliver an instrument for the Lunar Surface Electromagnetics Experiment at Night'. Period 17 Aug 2022 to 31 Mar 2028, signed 1 Jun 2023. The team's papers cite 80MSFC22CA018, an earlier record with the same description and start date whose obligation nets to zero (243,004 obligated, then removed in March 2023); the study reads 80MSFC23CA015 as its replacement. Linked by description and recipient. (NASA SMD (CLPS payload, managed by the Planetary Missions Program Office); 2022-2028): $17,519,384
"THE CONTRACTOR SHALL DESIGN, DEVELOP, AND DELIVER AN INSTRUMENT FOR THE LUNAR SURFACE ELECTROMAGNETICS EXPERIMENT AT NIGHT."
— USAspending.gov, award 80MSFC23CA015, description; obligated 17519384.0; base and all options 19160301.0; signed 2023-06-01"The LuSEE Night program is funded under NASA Contract 80MSFC22CA018 and DOE Office of Science Contract DE-SC0012704."
— arxiv.org: 2301.10345, Acknowledgements"THE CONTRACTOR SHALL DESIGN, DEVELOP, AND DELIVER AN INSTRUMENT FOR THE LUNAR SURFACE ELECTROMAGNETICS EXPERIMENT AT NIGHT."
— USAspending.gov, award 80MSFC22CA018, obligated 0.0 (243004.0 on 2022-08-17, -243004.0 on 2023-03-29); subawards 1182521.0 (University of Minnesota, University of Colorado)
- The parent LSITP contract 80MSFC20C0025 to UC Berkeley (signed 18 Dec 2019): lead the LuSEE investigation and deliver the instrument. LuSEE-Night was split from LuSEE in early 2020, so most of this money went to the original LuSEE (later LuSEE-Lite, whose CP-12 flight was cancelled). Context, not LuSEE-Night's own funding. (NASA SMD LSITP; 2019-2027): $3,860,475
"THE CONTRACTOR SHALL LEAD THE LUNAR SURFACE ELECTROMAGNETICS EXPERIMENT MISSION INVESTIGATION AND RESPONSIBLE FOR THE DESIGN, DEVELOPMENT, TEST, AND DELIVERY OF INSTRUMENT"
— USAspending.gov, award 80MSFC20C0025, description; obligated 3860475.0; signed 2019-12-18
- DOE Office of Science, through Brookhaven: a 'major item of equipment' (MIE) project for the instrument core. DE-SC0012704 is the contract number the team cites for DOE; it is Brookhaven's own operating contract with DOE (the papers' notices say so), so it gives no LuSEE-Night amount. (DOE Office of Science (MIE); about 2020-2025): amount not in public sources
"has completed the “major item of equipment” phase for the Lunar Surface Electromagnetics Experiment-Night (LuSEE-Night)"
— Scientists and Engineers Craft Radio Telescope Bound for the Moon"SSL’s portion of the project is supported by NASA and Brookhaven Lab’s portion of the project is supported by DOE."
— Scientists and Engineers Craft Radio Telescope Bound for the Moon"This manuscript has been authored by employees of Brookhaven Science Associates, LLC under Contract"
— osti.gov: 2500292, notice
- STMD Game Changing Development: 'PALETTE Parabolic Reflector Radiator (PRR) for LuSEE-Night' (TechPort 146999, JPL, Jul 2023 to Sep 2025), a 14-month effort to build and deliver the flight radiator reflectors. UC Berkeley is listed as a cofunding partner. TechPort gives no amount. (STMD GCD; 2023-2025): amount not in public sources
"The PALETTE PRR for LuSEE-Night project is a 14-month effort to design, build, test, and deliver flight PRR reflectors to the LuSEE-Night mission."
— TechPort project 146999, description; lastUpdated 2026-05-08"The PALETTE PRR project concluded with the successful delivery and intergration of a flight Parabolic Reflector Radiator"
— TechPort project 146999, outcomes, Closed out 2025-09-01 (as printed)
How it got onto CLPS¶
"The LuSEE payload was selected by NASA in 2019 under the Lunar Surface Instrument and Technology Payloads"
— arxiv.org: 2301.10345, section 2, (Bale et al., URSI GASS 2023)"In early 2020, NASA entered into a partnership with the DOE to promote LuSEE to a low frequency radio pathfinder and the LuSEE Night payload was separated from the original payload"
— arxiv.org: 2301.10345, section 2"LuSEE Night is a follow-on to LuSEE and partners with the Department of Energy"
— Lunar Surface Instrument and Technology Payloads (LSITP) - NASA"The principal investigator is Stuart Bale of University of California, Berkeley."
— NASA Selects 12 New Lunar Science, Technology Investigations - NASA, release of 1 Jul 2019"The contract award, for just under $112 million, is a commercial lunar delivery targeted to launch in 2026"
— NASA Picks Firefly Aerospace for Robotic Delivery to Far Side of Moon - NASA, release of 14 Mar 2023"Firefly has won an extended [$18 million contract]"
— Lunar Surface Electromagnetics Experiment-Night (LuSEE-Night)
On the Moon¶
Manifested on Blue Ghost Mission 2 to a far-side site near Nassau crater. Planned: the lander supports it for the first lunar day and then shuts down; LuSEE-Night then runs on its own, talking to Earth through ESA's Lunar Pathfinder relay, for up to two years.
"The landing side is near the Moon’s Nassau crater"
— Blue Ghost + Elytra: Lunar Far Side, as printed"LuSEE Night will assist in commissioning of the LPF satellite and will use LPF as its S-band uplink/downlink asset."
— arxiv.org: 2301.10345
FO's role¶
Grade: none. No FO project, flight or report names LuSEE, LuSEE-Night, its PI, Brookhaven or UC Berkeley's Space Sciences Laboratory. The study searched the 430 FO TechPort records, FO's reports and FO's pages for these names (the only 'Bale' hits were the word 'gimbaled'). The study's earlier traceback grade (none found) stands. The night-survival design was verified in ground tests (thermal vacuum, environmental test at the Space Dynamics Laboratory); no source mentions a flight test of any part.
"Lunar Surface Electromagnetics Experiment-Night (LuSEE-Night)"
— earlier finding of this study (not a public source)
Who built it¶
"The collaboration, led by UC Berkeley’s Space Sciences Laboratory (SSL), strategically distributed the engineering challenges among the participating institutions."
— Scientists and Engineers Craft Radio Telescope Bound for the Moon, BNL news, 24 Jul 2025"the DOE team, led by Brookhaven Lab, designed and built the core scientific instrument"
— Scientists and Engineers Craft Radio Telescope Bound for the Moon"DOE’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory developed the antennas"
— Scientists and Engineers Craft Radio Telescope Bound for the Moon"Prof. Stuart D. Bale of University of California, Berkeley is the NASA Principal Investigator for LuSEE-Night with Anže Slosar and Sven Herrmann from Brookhaven National Laboratory as the DOE lead and project manager, respectively."
— NASA, Department of Energy Join Forces on Innovative Lunar Experiment - NASAFacebook logoInstagra…"It is managed for NASA by the Planetary Missions Program Office at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama."
— NASA Picks Firefly Aerospace for Robotic Delivery to Far Side of Moon - NASA"Lead Development Organization: Brookhaven National Lab and Lawrence Berkely Lab under DOE MIE"
— CS-3 Science Payloads - NASA Science, as printed
Moon Base need¶
"NASA’s LuSEE-Night (Lunar Surface Electromagnetics Experiment-Night) will use this uniquely quiet environment to listen for faint radio signals from the early universe"
— Moon Base Phases - NASA, Phase One, Blue Ghost Mission 2"Thus, technology to survive the lunar night is critical for not only robotic activities, but for creating a sustained human presence on the lunar surface."
— NASA, Department of Energy Join Forces on Innovative Lunar Experiment - NASAFacebook logoInstagra…"demonstration of the LuSEE-Night lunar night survival technology is critical to performing long-term, high-priority science investigations from the lunar surface"
— NASA, Department of Energy Join Forces on Innovative Lunar Experiment - NASAFacebook logoInstagra…, Joel Kearns, SMD"Small spacecraft have survived extended periods of lunar shadow with damage to subsystems and degraded capability."
— Moon to Mars knowledge base: ESDMD #0301: Systems to Survive and Operate through Extended Periods of Lunar Shadow, Current state of the art"Develop extreme temperature-tolerant mechanisms and electronics for operating through periods of lunar shadow without dedicated heating systems."
— Moon to Mars knowledge base: Moon Base technology and knowledge challenges, Headline challenge 2, technology challenge
Open questions¶
- DOE's MIE cost for Brookhaven's share: not in the sources read. NASA's side is public (80MSFC23CA015, USD 17.5 million obligated).
- Launch date: NASA's last public date in the sources is 2026; Wikipedia says 2027. No NASA page in the repo gives a current date.
- Did any LuSEE-Night part (for example the Vulcan Wireless S-band radio or the battery) fly before? The sources say 'heritage design' but name no earlier flight of these units.
- Is the CS-4 calibration order to Firefly (about USD 18 million, per the University of Colorado) in a NASA release? Not found in the repo.