As part of NASA’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative and Artemis campaign, NASA is preparing to fly 10 instruments aboard Firefly Aerospace’s first transport to the moon. These science payloads and technology demonstrations will advance our understanding of lunar and planetary processes and pave the way for future human missions to the moon and beyond for the benefit of all.
The Firefly lunar lander, named Blue Ghost, is scheduled to lift off on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday, January 15. After a 45-day cruise phase, Blue Ghost will land near a volcanic feature called Mont Latreille within Mare Crisium, an approximately 340-mile (550-kilometer) wide basin located in the northeast quadrant of the moon’s near side. The goal is to
How can we enable more precise navigation on the lunar surface? How will spacecraft interact with the lunar surface? How does Earth’s magnetic field affect the effects of space weather on our home planet? What impact will this have on NASA? instruments will conduct first demonstrations to help answer these questions, including testing regolith sampling techniques, drilling underground on the moon, improving positioning and navigation capabilities, testing radiation-hardened computing, and learning how to do so. I will. To reduce lunar dust during lunar landings.
The 10 NASA payloads aboard Firefly’s Blue Ghost lander include:
Lunar Instrumentation for Subsurface Thermal Exploration with Rapidity (LISTER) explores the depths of the moon’s interior by measuring thermal gradients (changes in temperature at different depths) and thermal conductivity (the ability of subsurface materials to pass heat). measure the heat flow of. LISTER uses pneumatic drilling technology with a custom heat flow needle instrument at the tip to take multiple measurements up to 10 feet deep. Data from LISTER will help scientists trace the moon’s thermal history and understand how it formed and cooled. Lead organization: Texas Tech University Lunar PlanetVac (LPV) uses bursts of compressed gas to collect regolith samples from the lunar surface and pump the regolith into a sample chamber (sieve) for collection and analysis by a variety of instruments. It is designed to. Additional instruments will then send the results back to Earth. The LPV payload is designed to increase scientific output from planetary missions by testing low-cost techniques for collecting regolith samples in situ. Leading organization: Honeybee Robotics The Next Generation Lunar Retroreflector (NGLR) serves as a target for lasers on Earth by reflecting very short laser pulses from a Lunar Laser Ranging Observatory on Earth. Accurately measure the distance between and the moon. The time it takes for the laser pulse to reach the moon and return is used to determine the distance. Data from NGLR could improve the accuracy of the Moon’s coordinate system and contribute to our understanding of the Moon’s internal structure and fundamental physics questions. Lead organization: University of Maryland Regolith Attachment Characterization (RAC) determines how lunar regolith attaches to various materials exposed to the lunar environment throughout the lunar day. RAC will measure the rate of accumulation of lunar regolith on the surface (including solar cells, optical systems, coatings, and sensors) through imaging to determine the moon’s ability to repel and shed dust. The data collected will help test, improve, and protect spacecraft, spacesuits, and habitats from abrasive regolith. Lead organization: Aegis Aerospace Radiation Hardened Computer (RadPC) will demonstrate a computer that can recover from failures caused by ionizing radiation. Several RadPC prototypes have been tested on the International Space Station and Earth-orbiting satellites, but this flight demonstrated the computer’s ability to withstand space radiation as it passes through Earth’s radiation belts during transport to the Moon. This will be your biggest test yet. And even on the moon. Lead organization: Montana State University Electrodynamic Dust Shield (EDS) is an active dust mitigation technology that uses electric fields to move and prevent dangerous lunar dust from accumulating on the surface. EDS is designed to lift, transport, and remove particles from surfaces with no moving parts. Multiple tests will demonstrate the feasibility of self-cleaning glass and radiator surfaces on the lunar surface. If the dust is not deposited on the surface during landing, EDS has the ability to re-deposit the dust using the same technology. Lead organization: NASA’s Kennedy Space Center’s Lunar Environment-Heliospheric X-ray Imager (LEXI) takes a series of X-ray images to study the interaction of the solar wind and Earth’s magnetic field, which causes geomagnetic disturbances and storms. I will. The instrument, which will be deployed and operated on the lunar surface, will provide the first global images showing the edges of Earth’s magnetic field, providing important insights into how space weather and other cosmic forces surrounding Earth affect the planet. You can gain great insight. Lead organizations: Boston University, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Johns Hopkins University The Lunar Magnetic Surveyor (LMS) characterizes the structure and composition of the Moon’s mantle by measuring electric and magnetic fields. This study will help elucidate the moon’s thermal structure and thermal evolution, and understand how the moon cooled and chemically differentiated after its formation. Lead organization: Southwest Research Institute Lunar GNSS Receiver Experiment (LuGRE) acquires and tracks signals from the GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) constellations, specifically GPS and Galileo, during transit to, during orbit around, and on the Moon. demonstrate the possibility of Moon surface. If successful, LuGRE will be the first pathfinder for future lunar probes to autonomously and accurately estimate position, velocity, and time using existing Earth-based navigation constellations. Lead organization: NASA Goddard, Italian Space Agency The Stereo Camera for Lunar Plume Surface Studies (SCALPSS) uses stereo imaging photogrammetry to assess the impact of rocket exhaust plumes on the lunar regolith as the lander descends to the lunar surface. Capture impact. High-resolution stereo images will help create models to predict lunar regolith erosion. This is an important task because larger and heavier spacecraft and hardware will be delivered to the moon in close proximity to each other. This equipment also flew on Intuitive Machines’ first CLPS delivery. Lead organization: NASA’s Langley Research Center
Through the CLPS initiative, NASA purchases lunar landing and operations services from American companies. The agency uses CLPS to transmit scientific instruments and technology demonstrations to improve lunar science, exploration, and commercial development capabilities. By supporting robust lunar deliveries, NASA will enable the growth of the lunar economy while leveraging entrepreneurial innovation in the commercial space industry.
For more information about CLPS and Artemis, visit http://www.nasa.gov/clps.
Allies Fisher
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-2546
alise.m.fisher@nasa.gov
Natalia Liushek / Nilufar Ramzi
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
natalia.s.riusech@nasa.gov / nilufar.ramji@nasa.gov
