NASA's Lunar Trailblazer Is Officially Lost in Space -- but Maybe Not Forever

NASA's Lunar Trailblazer mission is in jeopardy. It launched on Feb. 27 to send a probe to the moon in search of water. But less than a week after launch, NASA lost track of the spacecraft, which may compromise the mission if NASA can't reestablish contact. The Lunar Trailblazer mission is part of NASA's SIMPLEx program, which funds low-cost, high-reward missions using smaller spacecraft. These low-cost probes are often included in the launch of larger missions, much like a carpool -- this one launched along with a SpaceX Falcon 9 launch from Florida. Read more: Intuitive Machines Aims for Moon Landing on Thursday Communications in space are a little more complex than they are here on Earth, but the general principles are the same. In short, a transmitter from the object in space sends data that is captured by a receiver on Earth and vice versa. However, performing these actions requires power, and things can get dicey when the power goes out. That's pretty much what happened with t ... Read full article.