NASA plans to send a lander and rover to the beautiful Gruitouisen domes, as seen in this controlled mosaic, and LROC images will help steer the road. The domes are located at 36.3 ° N, 319.8 ° E. The image is 55 km (34 miles) wide, north is up. Credit: NASA / GSFC / Arizona State University
NASA has big plans to explore the moon under the Artemis program. While one of the main goals is to send astronauts to establish the first long-term presence on the moon and learn what it takes to send the first astronauts to Mars, there is also a lot of research on the agenda.
In fact, this list is growing as NASA has just chosen two new priority science tools for Artemis on the Moon. One is called Lunar Vulkan Imaging and Spectroscopy Explorer (Lunar-VISE) and aims to explore the mysterious Gruithuisen domes. What makes these geological features so puzzling to scientists is that they appear to be formed by magma rich in silica, similar in composition to granite.
How did these silicon magmas form on the moon, when the silicon volcanoes on Earth usually form in the presence of both water and plate tectonics?
In addition to a growing list of commercial supplies planned to explore the moon more than ever under Artemis, NASA has selected two new sets of scientific instruments, including one that will study the mysterious Gruitouisen domes for the first time.
These payload packages mark the second choice through the call for proposals of the Agency for Payload and Moon Surface Research (PRISM). Both payloads will be delivered to the lunar surface on future flights through NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative, which is part of the larger architecture of the lunar research agency planned for this decade.
“The two selected studies will address important scientific issues related to the moon,” said Joel Kearns, deputy research assistant at NASA’s Scientific Missions Directorate. “The first will study the geological processes of early planetary bodies preserved on the moon, studying a rare form of lunar volcanism. The second will study the effects of the Moon’s low gravity and radiation environment on yeast, a model organism used to understand the response and repair DNA damage.
Labeled version of the scene above. The Gamma and Delta domes are separated by a relatively flat basalt plain. Gruithuisen Domes controlled mosaic created from images of NAC M1096764863, M1096743429, M1096757719, M1096750574. Credit: NASA / GSFC / Arizona State University
The Lunar Vulcan Imaging and Spectroscopy Explorer (Lunar-VISE) study consists of a set of five instruments, two of which will be mounted on a stationary landing module and three will be mounted on a mobile rover, which will be provided as a service by the provider. CLPS.
For 10 Earth days (one lunar day), Lunar-VISE will explore the top of one of the Gruithuisen domes. These domes are thought to be formed of sticky magma, rich in silica, similar in composition to granite. On Earth, formations like these need oceans of liquid water and plate tectonics to form, but without these key components of the Moon, lunar scientists are left wondering how these domes formed and evolved over time.
By analyzing the lunar regolith at the top of one of these domes, data collected and returned by Lunar-VISE instruments will help scientists answer fundamental open-ended questions about how these formations originated. The data will also help inform future robotic and human missions to the moon. Dr. Kerry Donaldson Hannah of the University of Central Florida will lead this payload package.
The second selected study, the Lunar Explorer Instrument for Space Biology (LEIA), is a small device based on CubeSat. LEIA will provide biological studies of the Moon – which cannot be simulated or reproduced with high accuracy on Earth or the International Space Station – by delivering the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae to the lunar surface and studying its response to radiation and lunar gravity. S. cerevisiae is an important model of human biology, especially in the field of genetics, the processes of cellular and molecular replication and division, and the response of DNA damage to environmental factors such as radiation. Data returned by LEIA, in conjunction with pre-existing data from other biological studies, could help scientists answer decades of questions about how partial gravity and actual radiation in deep space combined affect biological processes. Dr. Andrew Settles of NASA’s Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley, California will lead the LEIA payload package.
With these selections, NASA will work with the CLPS office at the Johnson Space Center of the Houston Agency to issue orders for the delivery of these kits to the moon in 2026.
For these payload kits, the agency has also selected two project scientists to coordinate research activities for selected toolkits, including payload handling in site selection, concept development operations and archiving of scientific data obtained. during ground operations. Dr. John Karch of NASA’s Ames Research Center in California will coordinate the Lunar-VISE research package for delivery to the Gruituizen Dome, and Dr. Cindy Young of NASA’s Langley Research Center in Langley, Hampton, Virginia, will coordinate the investigation package. LEIA for delivery.
CLPS is a key part of NASA’s plans to explore the moon Artemis. Scientific and technological payloads sent to the surface of the moon will help lay the foundations for human missions on and around the moon. The agency has made seven awards for CLPS supplier orders for lunar deliveries in the early 2020s, with more delivery awards expected by 2028.
Add Comment