User Terminal (UT)¶
Blue Ghost Mission 2 · manifested · NASA payload
A small, low-cost relay radio set: a software-defined radio, an antenna, a network switch and a sample data source. On the lander it commissions ESA's Lunar Pathfinder satellite by sending test data back and forth. A second UT radio and antenna on LuSEE-Night then carries that telescope's data through Lunar Pathfinder after the lander shuts down. It is the first flight of a new S-band version of the CCSDS Proximity-1 link standard for surface-to-orbiter communications at the Moon.
PI: not in public sources (JPL names engineer Emmanuel Decrossas on the team)
Built by: NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (manages the project and led the standard work); Vulcan Wireless (Carlsbad, California) built the radio (NASA center)
| Technology | communications (surface-to-orbit relay radio and link standard) |
| Moon Base need | FN-C-101 L (NASA's link, in words. NASA's Moon Base Phases page lists Blue Ghost Mission 2 among the Phase One assets and says the User Terminal will demonstrate relay communications for future spacecraft around and on the Moon. The tie to function FN-C-101 L (surface-to-Earth communications) by ID is the study's reading. The UT is a surface-to-orbiter link; the guide's 'Surface-to-surface comms' challenge (#0103) is about links between surface assets, so the study does not count it.) |
| Route onto CLPS | other NASA; No call is named. NASA announced the UT with Firefly's task order CS-3 on 14 March 2023, as one of three payloads; its job is to commission Lunar Pathfinder for LuSEE-Night. It is funded by SMD's Exploration Science Strategy and Integration Office, which manages CLPS. the study's earlier feeder-line map had the route as not public; JPL's 2025 page now names the funder, but still not how the payload was chosen.; 2023-03-14 |
| Timeline | first funding not in public sources; first flight test not in public sources; selected 2023-03-14 (announced with CS-3); launch Not yet launched. NASA: 2026 (2023 award; JPL, Aug 2025). Wikipedia (revision of 26 Sep 2026): 2027.; landing not in public sources |
| On the Moon | not yet flown |
| FO | none |
Flights before the Moon¶
None found in the public sources.
Heritage hardware¶
- standard heritage (no flown hardware): The link standard is a new S-band version of CCSDS Proximity-1, the UHF standard NASA's Mars rovers use with orbiters. The UT team made recommendations to CCSDS; the lunar S-band standard was specified in 2024. NASA says the payload will 'establish space heritage', so it has none yet.
"The standard is a new version of a space communications protocol called Proximity-1 that was initially developed more than two decades ago for use at Mars"
— JPL's User Terminal Payload Delivered to Firefly, JPL image PIA26596"The User Terminal team made recommendations to CCSDS on the development of the new lunar S-band standard, which was specified in 2024."
— JPL's User Terminal Payload Delivered to Firefly, JPL image PIA26596"This payload will institute a new standard for S-Band Proximity-1 space communication protocol and establish space heritage."
— NASA Picks Firefly Aerospace for Robotic Delivery to Far Side of Moon - NASA
Funding before the lunar flight¶
- NASA SMD, Exploration Science Strategy and Integration Office (ESSIO). No amount in public sources read. Vulcan Wireless holds DoD SBIR awards on small-satellite radios (2005-2020), but none is NASA and none names the UT, so none is counted here. (NASA SMD ESSIO; not in public sources (by 2023)): amount not in public sources
"User Terminal is funded by NASA's Exploration Science Strategy and Integration Office"
— JPL's User Terminal Payload Delivered to Firefly, JPL image PIA26596
How it got onto CLPS¶
"It will be used to commission the Lunar Pathfinder and ensure its readiness to provide communications service to LuSEE-Night."
— NASA Picks Firefly Aerospace for Robotic Delivery to Far Side of Moon - NASA, release of 14 Mar 2023"User Terminal is funded by NASA's Exploration Science Strategy and Integration Office, part of the agency's Science Mission Directorate, which manages the CLPS initiative."
— JPL's User Terminal Payload Delivered to Firefly, JPL image PIA26596
On the Moon¶
Delivered to Firefly in August 2025 for Blue Ghost Mission 2. Planned: commission Lunar Pathfinder from the lander during the first lunar day, then relay LuSEE-Night's data after the lander shuts down. It can also talk to Firefly's Elytra Dark orbiter.
"a separate User Terminal radio and antenna installed on [LuSEE-Night]"
— JPL's User Terminal Payload Delivered to Firefly, JPL image PIA26596"Additionally, User Terminal will be able to communicate with another satellite that's being delivered to lunar orbit by Blue Ghost Mission 2: Firefly's own Elytra Dark orbital vehicle."
— JPL's User Terminal Payload Delivered to Firefly, JPL image PIA26596
FO's role¶
Grade: none. No FO project, flight or report names the User Terminal, Proximity-1 or Vulcan Wireless; the study searched the 430 FO TechPort records, FO's reports and FO's pages. JPL has many FO projects, but none on this radio or link; that is an organization overlap only. The study's earlier traceback grade (none found) stands.
"User Terminal (UT): This payload will institute a new standard for S-Band Proximity-1 space communication protocol"
— earlier finding of this study (not a public source)
Who built it¶
"UT is in development by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California."
— NASA Picks Firefly Aerospace for Robotic Delivery to Far Side of Moon - NASA"JPL manages the project and supported development of the new S-band radio standard and the payload in coordination with Vulcan Wireless in Carlsbad, California, which built the radio."
— JPL's User Terminal Payload Delivered to Firefly, JPL image PIA26596, 26 Aug 2025"Engineer Emmanuel Decrossas of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California makes an adjustment to an antenna's connector"
— JPL's User Terminal Payload Delivered to Firefly, caption
Moon Base need¶
"Blue Ghost will carry a NASA-developed User Terminal that will communicate through the Lunar Pathfinder satellite, demonstrating relay communications that could help provide reliable connections for future spacecraft operating around and on the Moon."
— Moon Base Phases - NASA, Phase One, Blue Ghost Mission 2"Provide communications and data exchange between the lunar surface and Earth."
— Moon to Mars knowledge base: Moon Base Phase 1 functional gaps, Communications and PNT, FN-C-101 L"the User Terminal will test a new, low-cost lunar communications system that future missions to the Moon's far side could use to transfer data to and from Earth via lunar relay satellite"
— JPL's User Terminal Payload Delivered to Firefly, JPL image PIA26596
Open questions¶
- Who is the UT's principal investigator or project lead, and when did its funding start? Not in public sources.
- Cost of the UT (ESSIO funding, the Vulcan Wireless radio): not in public sources read; USAspending was not reachable on 4 October 2026.
- Was the UT radio, or Vulcan Wireless's radio line, flown or tested in an end-to-end link before? The sources say the payload has no space heritage yet.