Cislunar Explorers, a team of Cornell University graduate and undergraduate students, will attempt to get a small cube satellite (CubeSat) to orbit the Moon powered by water as its "rocket fuel."

This attempt, scheduled for 2018, will also be the first-ever attempt by a CubeSat to orbit the Moon.

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Cislunar Explorers is one of 10 teams taking part in a competition called the Cube Quest Challenge, a NASA program. The challenge facing the teams is to design, build and deliver "flight-qualified, small satellites."

NASA says the satellites must be able to perform "advanced operations near and beyond the moon." The top three finishers will earn a ride on NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket in early 2018, to compete in either the Deep Space Derby or the Lunar Derby.

CisLunar Explorer is the only competitor using water to power its CubeSat.

The idea for a water-powered CubeSat came from Mason Peck, who works at Cornell University and who once worked as NASA's chief technologist. Peck has always wanted to use something other than rockets to push spacecraft beyond earth.

Why not water, or more specifically, its two components, hydrogen and oxygen?

Cornell's water-powered CubeSat has a very important goal, and that's to demonstrate you can use water as a propellant, said Peck.

The CubeSat is two "L"-shaped halves that will split apart and gradually separate miles from each other. Both halves will set a course for the moon. The twin satellites will spin as they hurtle forward.

The spinning will create angular momentum (like a spinning top) that will help keep them from tumbling off course.

With energy from the sun, water stored in tanks at the bottom of the "L" is electrolyzed into hydrogen and oxygen gases.

These gases will combust in short bursts, 30 minutes to an hour apart, to provide propulsion. The spinning will also separate the liquid water from the combustible gases.

As the CubeSats enter the moon's gravitational pull, they will slow down and be swung into a distant Earth orbit, eventually reconnecting with the moon days later.

It's during this second rendezvous the CubeSats will be traveling slowly enough to be sucked into lunar orbit, some 6,200 miles above the surface of the moon.

In addition to the water-based propulsion, the other core technology to be demonstrated by the team is optical navigation, said project manager Kyle Doyle, a doctoral student in aerospace engineering.

TagsCislunar Explorers, cube satellite, CubeSat, moon, Cube Quest Challenge, NASA, water, Hydrogen, Oxygen, Mason Peck