MoonFall is part of the initial phase of NASA\u2019s Moon Base initiative: a rapid series of robotic missions to scout, experiment, and prepare for astronaut surface operations. Managed by JPL, the MoonFall mission aims to land near the lunar South Pole by 2028.<\/p>\n
After launch, the drones will be transported from Earth orbit to the Moon by Firefly Aerospace\u2019s Elytra spacecraft, which will deploy them mid-descent. They will land on the lunar surface individually and operate independently, each using as many as 10 high-definition optical cameras to acquire high-resolution imagery and video of hard-to-reach terrain. Each drone will use its propulsion system to make multiple flights over the course of a single lunar day (up to 14 Earth days). About 550 pounds including propellant, each drone will be approximately 7 feet in diameter and 4 feet tall.<\/p>\n
MoonFall\u2019s Lunar Dashcam imaging system will produce digital terrain maps at significantly higher resolution than current satellite imagery. Additional science instruments include: a laser retroflector array for precisely locating the drones, navigation, and potential geophysical experiments; a neutron spectrometer system to help determine the abundance of subsurface water; and a spectrometer to characterize the radiation environment for future human exploration.<\/p>\n
As the lunar night descends and freezes any remaining fuel, preventing future flights, each drone will activate a long-duration payload and remain operational at its final landing site. Able to wake up and communicate with Earth during subsequent lunar daytime periods, this survive-the-night payload will mark a sustained U.S. presence at the South Pole and in the area of operations for Moon Base missions.<\/p>\n
Building on the success of NASA\u2019s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter, particularly its autonomous takeoffs and landings, MoonFall will leverage commercial electronics that enable low-cost future production by industry.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MoonFall is part of the initial phase of NASA\u2019s Moon Base initiative: a rapid series of robotic missions…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":469907,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[85,46,141,145],"class_list":["post-469906","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-science","tag-space"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469906","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=469906"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469906\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/469907"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=469906"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=469906"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=469906"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}