1. Lunar Orbit Insertion
Mothership + Separation Module + Penetrators arrive at the Moon and inject into lunar orbit.
An impact-survivable 1 kg-class probe. Designed to fit commercial lunar lander ride-share payload envelopes and to be deployed in numbers across the lunar surface.
| Mass class | 1 kg-class |
|---|---|
| Form factor | 20 cm-class envelope |
| Sensor suite | 3-axis high-G accelerometer, gyro, dielectric probe, surface temperature |
| Communications | UHF, orbiter relay |
| Deployment | Mothership-released, single-impact penetration |
| Status | Ride-share targeting (development) |
How a penetrator gets from orbit to subsurface — common to both Mini and Max.
Mothership + Separation Module + Penetrators arrive at the Moon and inject into lunar orbit.
The mothership settles into a ~100 km polar orbit and prepares observation systems.
Separation modules are released — mini: 25 units × 4 modules / max: 3 units × 3 modules.
ΔV ≈ 1,900 m/s cancels horizontal velocity for vertical descent.
At ~7 km altitude, surface-relative velocity is driven near zero.
Free fall ~30 seconds, reaching an impact velocity of about 150 m/s.
Peak deceleration ≈ 10,000 G; the penetrator buries 1–5 m into the regolith.
The mothership relays terahertz / microwave / camera / penetrator data to Earth over 3–5 years.