Optical design and performance of the Lunar Trailblazer High-resolution Volatiles and Minerals Moon Mapper (HVM3)

The High-resolution Volatiles and Minerals Moon Mapper (HVM3) is a pushbroom shortwave infrared (SWIR) imaging spectrometer developed at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), California Institute of Technology, for the Lunar Trailblazer mission. The mission, a part of NASA’s Small Innovative Missions for Planetary Exploration (SIMPLEx) program, pairs HVM3 with University of Oxford’s Lunar Thermal Mapper (LTM) to determine the form, abundance, and distribution of water on the Moon, while providing a potential reconnaissance opportunity for future landed missions. The HVM3 optical design utilizes heritage from NASA’s Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3), and maintains a compact form while extending to longer wavelengths. Operating at F/3.4 with a spatial resolution of 70 meters per pixel and a spectral resolution of 10 nm over the 0.6 to 3.6 microns spectral range, HVM3 is optimized for the detection of volatiles to map OH, bound H2O, and water ice at the Moon, including the Moon’s permanently shadowed regions (PSRs). We discuss the optical specifications, optical design, alignment, and initial measured laboratory performance of the HVM3 instrument.