NASA has selected two science instruments designed for astronauts to deploy on the surface of the Moon during the Artemis IV mission to the lunar south polar region.\u00a0The instruments will improve our knowledge of the lunar environment to support NASA\u2019s further exploration of the Moon and beyond to Mars.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Apollo Era taught us that the further humanity is from Earth, the more dependent we are on\u00a0science to\u00a0protect and sustain\u00a0human life on other planets,\u201d said Nicky Fox, associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. \u201cBy deploying these two science instruments on the lunar surface, our proving ground, NASA is leading the world in the creation of humanity\u2019s interplanetary survival guide to ensure the health and safety of our spacecraft and human explorers as we begin our epic journey back to the Moon and onward\u00a0to Mars.\u201d<\/p>\n
After his voyage to the Moon\u2019s surface during Apollo 17, astronaut Gene Cernan acknowledged\u00a0the challenge that lunar dust<\/a>\u00a0presents to long-term lunar exploration. Moon dust sticks to everything it touches and is very abrasive. The knowledge gained from the DUSTER (DUst and plaSma environmenT survEyoR) investigation will help mitigate hazards to human health and exploration.\u00a0Consisting of a set of instruments mounted on a small autonomous rover, DUSTER\u00a0will characterize dust and plasma\u00a0around the landing site. These measurements will advance understanding of the Moon\u2019s natural dust and plasma environment and how that environment responds to the human presence, including any disturbance during crew exploration activities and lander liftoff. The DUSTER instrument suite is led by Xu Wang of the University of Colorado Boulder. The contract is for $24.8 million over a period of three years.\u00a0<\/p>\n Data from the SPSS (South Pole Seismic Station) will enable scientists to characterize the lunar interior structure to better understand the geologic processes that affect planetary bodies. The seismometer will help determine the current rate at which the Moon is struck by meteorite impacts, monitor the real-time seismic environment and how it can affect operations for astronauts, and determine properties of the Moon\u2019s deep interior. The crew will additionally perform an active-source experiment using a \u201cthumper\u201d that creates seismic energy to survey the shallow structure around the landing site. The SPSS instrument is led by Mark Panning of NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. The award is for $25 million over a period of three years.\u00a0<\/p>\n “These two scientific investigations will be emplaced by human explorers on the Moon to achieve science goals that have been identified as strategically important by both NASA and the larger scientific community”, said Joel Kearns,\u00a0deputy associate administrator for exploration, Science Mission Directorate\u00a0at NASA Headquarters. \u201cWe are excited to integrate these instrument teams into the Artemis IV Science Team.\u201d<\/p>\n The two payloads were selected for further development to fly on\u00a0Artemis IV;\u00a0however, final manifesting decisions about the mission will be determined at a later date.\u00a0<\/p>\n Through Artemis, NASA will address high priority science questions, focusing on those that are best accomplished by on-site human explorers on and around the Moon and by using the unique attributes of the lunar environment, aided by robotic surface and orbiting systems. The Artemis missions\u00a0will send astronauts to explore the Moon for scientific discovery, economic benefits, and build the foundation for the first crewed missions to Mars.<\/p>\n For more information on Artemis, visit:<\/p>\n https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/humans-in-space\/artemis<\/a><\/p>\n Karen Fox \/ Molly Wasser
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600\u00a0
karen.c.fox@nasa.gov<\/a>\u00a0\/\u00a0molly.l.wasser@nasa.gov<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NASA has selected two science instruments designed for astronauts to deploy on the surface of the Moon during…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":328138,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[3105,183983,64,63,30542,54066,14572,94010,2568,54072,128,18367,285],"class_list":{"0":"post-328137","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-space","8":"tag-artemis","9":"tag-artemis-4","10":"tag-au","11":"tag-australia","12":"tag-earths-moon","13":"tag-exploration-systems-development-mission-directorate","14":"tag-humans-in-space","15":"tag-lunar-science","16":"tag-planetary-science","17":"tag-planetary-science-division","18":"tag-science","19":"tag-science-mission-directorate","20":"tag-space"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=328137"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328137\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/328138"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=328137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=328137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=328137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}