13 August 2022
The NASA Artemis 1 mission, currently set to launch on August 29th, is going to carry many CubeSat secondary payloads to the Moon. Here you will find a short description of each Artemis I payload as well as their associated ITU frequency allocations. The vast majority of the communications will be conducted within the X-band, so an amateur observer probably won't be able to track most of the mission, at least not without an expensive setup, however some S-band and UHF emissions are also expected.
| Allocation summary | ||
|---|---|---|
| Mission | Frequency (MHz) | Bandwidth (kHz) |
| Lunar-IceCube UHF beacon | 400.6 | 200 |
| OMOTENASHI orbiter | 437.31 | 80 |
| OMOTENASHI lander | 437.41 | 160 |
| Orion RPOD | 2203.2 | 6000 |
| Orion TDRS 1 | 2216.5 | 6000 |
| Orion TDRS 2 | 2287.5 | 5000 |
| Team Miles | 2295.74 | 20 |
| LunIR | 8200 | 400000 |
| NEA-Scout | 8402.78 | 162 |
| BioSentinel | 8409.57 | 2400 |
| CuSP | 8416.36 | 2000 |
| EQUULEUS X-band | 8443.52 | 43920 |
| LunaH-Map | 8451.7 | 512 |
| ArgoMoon | 8475 | 2000 |
| OMOTENASHI X-band | 8494.53 | 10920 |
| Lunar-IceCube X-band | 8498.95 | 2080 |
| EQUULEUS Ka-band | 32085.4 | 46460 |
The primary payload, Orion CM-002, is an uncrewed Orion lunar vehicle. It has three frequency allocations, one for its docking system and two TDRS return links.
ArgoMoon will perform imaging sessions of the SLS cryogenic upper stage as it is carrying Orion to lunar orbit. After that it will transition to an elliptical orbit around the Moon and perform lunar imaging.
BioSentinel will study the effect of deep space radiation on genetically modified yeast. It will carry several instrument for radiation measurements.
Space weather satellite that will drift into the interplanetary space, measuring high energy particles and radiation that could potentially be harmful to future astronauts.
The spacecraft will be observing lunar impacts of meteors, measuring dust particles resulting from such impacts, and will carry an extreme-UV telescope with a photon counter. It will also be using water thrusters for orbit changes and attitude control.
Mission for measuring lunar water and ice features from a low lunar orbit (100 km). Carries a deep-space UHF beacon.
Mission to map distribution of hydrogen on the lunar surface using two neutron spectrometers. Will operate in a very low lunar orbit (5 km). Also carries a wide angle camera.
Will utilize a large solar sail to attempt a near-Earth asteroid flyby.
Lunar impactor mission, the satellite will perform a lunar flyby, then deploy a lander that will perform a semi-hard landing on the lunar surface using a retro rocket motor and an airbag. Use of both X-band and UHF.
Demonstration of instruments to survey possible future landing spots on the Moon, and eventually Mars.
Fully autonomous mission to test new plasma thrusters and software-defined radio transmitter. It will use the USRP B200 Mini SDR to transmit S-band telemetry. Interestingly has no uplink allocation.