Euroluna -the Danish team participating in the $30 million Google Lunar X PRIZE contest -has taken the first big step toward landing a small robotic mobile rover on the Moon, ewhen they launch a test satellite in december from Tonga.

Launch
The launch is a systems test under real conditions. Euroluna will use the flight to verify computer, radio, and camera operations. Finally and most importantly, Euroluna will test the rocket engine which will subsequently be used for the lunar voyage. If the engine meets expectations, it will be groundbreaking for nanosatellites in general, to manouver in space, which they can not today.

If everything goes well Euroluna should, after a year's time, be out in a 700km orbit (Euroluna start in a 310- kilometer orbit). If Euroluna don’t succeed in boosting the orbit, the satellite will re-enter Earth’s atmosphere after a few months and burn up.

When the rocket reaches its orbital altitude, the satellite is deployed using a spring-loaded device. MiniRomit1 then powers up and conducts a systems test. The satellite must stabilize itself so that it has the right orientation (with the propulsion system pointing aft). The spacecraft will immediately start its engine so that it can begin its journey to a higher altitude, away from any traces of atmosphere that would produce drag, slow it down, and shorten its orbital lifespan.

The spacecraft
MiniRomit1 is made up of two CubeSats. A CubeSat is an open-standard minisatellite-unit of 10x10x10cm, that has been developed by universities around the world and has been launched on several occasions by agencies as well as universities.

Image right: Cubesat CP4 in orbit, photographed by another Cubesat AeroCube2.

The double CubeSat will thus the dimensions 10 x 10 x 20 centimeters and an estimated weight of about 2kg. The sides of the CubeSat are covered with solar cells on all surfaces except the aft end, where the rocket motor is situated.

Euroluna bought two of the four available CubeSat payload slots on Interorbital Systems  NEPTUNE 30 rocket that will carry a mixed manifest of 4 CubeSats and 26 TubeSats on its maiden launch.
One of the two CubeSat modules contains the OBC (OnBoardComputer), the communication printed circuit board, and the camera board which controls six cameras - each 1.3 megapixels. In addition, a battery will provide power when MiniRomit1 passes into the night-side shadow of the Earth.

The second CubeSat module contains Euroluna’s propulsion system (rocket engine), which is an electric ion accelerator. The device accelerates metal ions across an electric field and shoots them out through a nozzle, causing the rocket to move forward and overcome drag caused by the few air molecules at the 310km orbital altitude.
This thrust will move the satellite to a higher orbit. The energy for the system comes from solar cells, and propulsion is achieved using only a few grams of metal.

Communication
Euroluna hope that radio amateurs across the world will help retrieve data and make it possible to eg. gather images from the six cameras. Radio amateurs can send the pixels they receive to us, and we will assemble them into a full image.

In its ‘polar’ orbit, MiniRomit1 will fly over the North and South Poles. Orbit duration is approximately 90 minutes. Since the Earth is rotating under the satellite, MiniRomit1 passes over Denmark two times every twelve hours, travelling either from the south, or 12 hours later from the north. Euroluna expects to have radio contact with the satellite 5-10 minutes each time it passes over Denmark.

Google Lunar X-prize
Euroluna is participating in the 30 million dollar Google Lunar X Prize contest. Euroluna was founded in 2007 by Palle Haastrup and Søren Rasmussen from Denmark. Today Euroluna consist of mostly family and friends between the age of 16 and 60 - most of them with a background in ingeneering, and a passion for space.

The first prize of 20 million dollar goes to the team that is first to land a rover on the Moon, drive 500 meters and sends images back to Earth – before the end of 2012.

Source: Euroluna