Update on Lunar Mission

According to the LuxSpace website, the 4M-LXS spacecraft is in the vicinity of the moon.  The spacecraft will be flying away from Earth until about 1200-2200 UTC (7:00 AM – 5:00 PM USA Central Time) on October 27, and will be flying toward the earth starting at about 0100-1000 UTC October 28 (8:00 PM – 5:00 AM the night of October 27-28, USA Central Time).  The verification that the spacecraft has completed the lunar flyby will be a shift in frequency due to Doppler shift, indicating that the spacecraft has stopped flying away from Earth but is now returning.

Currently, I have received only one report that the W0IS.COM message was received, from LU1HKO in Cordoba, Argentina.  Additional reception reports will probably be posted on October 30 at the conclusion of the LuxSpace contest.

As this is posted (0038 UTC, OCt. 28), the spacecraft is approximately 381,000 kilometers from Earth.  According to the LuxSpace tracking data, the distance is slowly decreasing, indicating it has completed the Lunar flyby and is returning to Earth.

Earlier posts regarding 4M-LXS spacecraft.