Illustration of Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C lander with a depiction of NASA’s Polar Resources Ice-Mining Experiment-1 (PRIME-1) attached to the spacecraft on the surface of the Moon. Credits: Intuitive Machines
In late 2022, NASA will send an ice-mining
experiment attached to a robotic lander to the lunar South Pole on a ridge not
far from Shackleton crater – a location engineers and scientists have assessed
for months. NASA and Intuitive Machines, an agency partner for commercial Moon
deliveries, announced the location selection Nov. 3.
NASA data from spacecraft orbiting the Moon indicate
this location, referred to as the “Shackleton connecting ridge,” could have ice
below the surface. The area receives sufficient sunlight to power a lander for
roughly a 10-day mission, while also providing a clear line of sight to Earth
for constant communications. It also is close to a small crater, which is ideal
for a robotic excursion.
A data visualization
showing the area near the lunar South Pole on a ridge not far from Shackleton -
the large crater on the right - selected as the landing site for Intuitive
Machines’ Nova-C lander, which will deliver technology demonstrations to the
Moon's surface under NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative. The
conditions at the site offer the best chance of success for three technology
demonstrations onboard. Credits: NASA
These conditions offer the best chance of success for the three technology
demonstrations aboard. This includes the NASA-funded Polar Resources Ice-Mining
Experiment-1 (PRIME-1) – which consists of a
drill paired with a mass spectrometer – a 4G/LTE communications network
developed by Nokia of America Corporation, and Micro-Nova, a deployable hopper
robot developed by Intuitive Machines.
“PRIME-1 is permanently attached to Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C lander, and
finding a landing location where we might discover ice within three feet of the
surface was challenging,” said Dr. Jackie Quinn, PRIME-1 project manager at
NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. “While there is plenty of sunlight to
power the payloads, the surface gets too warm to sustain ice within reach of
the PRIME-1 drill. We needed to find a ‘goldilocks’ site that gets just enough
sunlight to meet mission requirements while also being a safe place to land
with good Earth communications.”
To select this final landing location, experts from NASA, Arizona State
University, Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab, Nokia, and Intuitive Machines
created “ice-mining” maps of the lunar surface using lunar remote sensing data.
After landing, the PRIME-1 drill, known as The Regolith Ice Drill for
Exploring New Terrain (TRIDENT), will attempt to drill up to three feet deep,
extract lunar soil – called regolith – and deposit it on the surface for water
analysis. PRIME-1’s other instrument, the Mass Spectrometer observing lunar
operations (MSolo), will measure volatile gases that readily escape from the
material excavated by TRIDENT.
PRIME-1 will be the first demonstration of finding and extracting resources on the Moon.
Advancing these types of technologies are critical to establishing a robust,
long-term presence in deep space, including at the Moon as part of the
agency’s Artemis missions. Simply
operating and drilling into the tough lunar surface will provide valuable
insight to engineers for future lunar missions, such as the Volatiles
Investigating Polar Exploration Rover, or VIPER, mission, which
is slated to land at the lunar South
Pole in late 2023.
While PRIME-1 will investigate the resources below the lunar surface, Nokia
will set out to test its space-hardened 4G/LTE network. A small rover developed
by Lunar Outpost will venture more than a mile away from the Nova-C lander and
test Nokia’s wireless network at various distances. The rover will communicate
to a base station located on Nova-C, and the lander will communicate data back
to Earth. This demonstration could pave the way for a commercial 4G/LTE system
for mission-critical communications on the lunar surface. This includes
communications and even high-definition video streaming from astronauts to base
stations, vehicles to base stations, and more.
Nearby, Intuitive Machines’ Micro-Nova will aim to deploy to the surface
and hop into a nearby crater to acquire pictures and science data before
hopping out. It will then send the data back to Nova-C. Micro-Nova can carry a
two-pound payload more than 1.5 miles to access lunar craters and enable
high-resolution surveying of the lunar surface. This demonstration could help
pave the way for additional commercial lunar exploration services. In the
future, scientists may have the opportunity to outfit a hopper with their own
small science instruments, such as cameras, seismometers, lunar ranging
systems, and more.
“These early technology demonstrations employ
innovative partnerships to provide valuable information about operating on and
exploring the lunar surface,” said Niki Werkheiser, director of technology
maturation for NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) at NASA
Headquarters in Washington. “The data will inform the designs for future
in-situ resource utilization, mobility, communication, power, and dust
mitigation capabilities.”
By Hillary Smith
NASA's Langley Research Center
Source: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/nasa-intuitive-machines-announce-landing-site-location-for-lunar-drill
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