Lunar Ice Cube, scheduled to be launched on ARTEMIS I in late 2021, is a deep space cubesat mission with the goals of demonstrating 1) a cubesat-scale instrument (BIRCHES) capable of addressing NASA HEOMD Strategic Knowledge Gaps related to lunar volatile distribution (abundance, location, and transportation physics of water ice), and 2) cubesat propulsion, via the Busek BIT 3 RF Ion engine. The mission will also demonstrate the AIM/IRIS microcryocooler for the first time in deep space. BIRCHES integration is nearly complete, with several changes made to the thermal design to improve detector performance. Final preflight instrument testing and calibration, our ongoing concern to be emphasized here, have been delayed due to the mandated closure rules of NASA facilities. Lunar Ice Cube, along with two other cubesats deployed from ARTEMIS I, Lunar Flashlight and LunaH-Map, will be the first deep cubesat missions to deliver science data to the Planetary Data System.

Lunar Ice Cube (LIC) is one of 13 6U cubesats that will be deployed by EM1 in cislunar space. LIC along with Lunar Flashlight and LunaH-Map, all focused on the search for volatiles but with very different payloads, will be the first deep space cubesats designed to address goals for both demonstrating new technologies and collecting scientific data. Effectively, as their developments are occurring in parallel, they are acting as prototypes for future deep space cubesats missions. One useful outcome of this `experiment' is to evolve a working paradigm for the development and operation of compact, cost-capped, standardized (supporting subsystems) spacecraft to serve the needs of diverse user communities. The lunar ice cube mission was developed as the test case in a GSFC R&D study to determine whether the cubesat paradigm could be applied to deep space, science requirements driven missions, and BIRCHES was its payload. Here, we present the design and describe the ongoing development, and testing, in the context of the challenges of using the cubesat paradigm to fly a broadband IR spectrometer in a 6U platform, including a very harsh environment, minimal funding and extensive need for leveraging existing assets and relationships on development, and minimum command and telemetry bandwidth translating into simplified or canned operation and the collection of only essential data.

Cubesats operating in deep space face challenges Earth-orbiting cubesats do not. 15 deep space cubesat 'prototypes'will be launched over the next two years including the two MarCO cubesats, the 2018 demonstration of dual communication system at Mars, and the 13 diverse cubesats being deployed from the SLS EM1 mission within the next two years. Three of the EM1 cubesat missions, including the first deep space cubesat 'cluster', will be lunar orbiters with remote sensing instruments for lunar surface/regolith measurements. These include: Lunar Ice Cube, with its 1-4 micron broadband IR spectrometer, BIRCHES, to determine volatile distribution as a function of time of day; Lunar Flashlight, to confirm the presence of surface ice at the lunar poles, utilizing an active source (laser), and looking for absorption features in the returning signal; and LunaH-Map to characterize ice at or below the surface at the poles with a compact neutron spectrometer. In addition, the BIRCHES instrument on Lunar Ice Cube will provide the first demonstration of a microcryocooler (AIM/IRIS) in deep space. Although not originally required to do so, all will be delivering science data to the Planetary Data System, the first formal archiving effort for cubesats. 4 of the 20 recently NASA-sponsored (PSDS3) study groups for deep space cubesat/smallsat mission concepts were lunar mission concepts, most involving 12U cubesats. NASA SIMPLEX 2/SALMON 3 AO will create ongoing opportunities for low-cost missions as 'rides'on government space program or private sector vehicles as these become available.