Return to the Moon: Findings from the Lunar Science for Landed Missions Workshop
Abstract
The Lunar Science for Landed Missions workshop, held at NASA Ames Research Center in January 2018, was attended by both lunar scientists and representatives from commercial companies. The goals of the workshop were to produce a set of high-priority targets for near-term landed science missions on the surface of the Moon, primarily, but not exclusively, for commercial exploration firms, and to foster discussion between scientists and commercial companies about a path forward to meet current lunar science and exploration goals. Scientists were invited to submit abstracts detailing high-priority landing sites on the surface of the Moon where lunar missions would land to fulfill community science goals. Contributed presentations addressed various scientific goals including cratering processes, age determinations, volatiles, volcanism, magnetism, geophysics, and astrophysics. The workshop findings are presented in a summary report prepared for the NASA Science Mission Directorate.
The report describes how each proposed landing site meets science goals laid out by the 2007 National Research Council's (NRC) Scientific Context for the Exploration of the Moon (SCEM) report, the Vision and Voyages for Planetary Science Decadal Survey, and the LEAG Advancing Science of the Moon Report. Each landing site was assessed for exploration goals established through Strategic Knowledge Gaps (SKGs) determined by NASA's Human Spaceflight Architecture Team and two LEAG Specific Action Teams. An emerging theme from the workshop was the need for advancements in technology including: automated hazard avoidance; cryogenic sampling, caching, and transport; landers and rovers that could survive extreme conditions; and a communications relay for far side operations. Based on the findings of this workshop, we recommend a three-phase lunar exploration framework that outlines increasingly complex missions to a variety of landing sites on the Moon. Phase 1 missions include missions that could be launched with current engineering constraints and are limited to static landers on the lunar nearside at low latitudes. Phase 2 missions incorporate mobility and can access a wider diversity of locations, including polar regions and the lunar farside. Phase 3 missions could include longer duration missions and sample return capabilities.- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2018
- Bibcode:
- 2018AGUFM.P23C3446J
- Keywords:
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- 0933 Remote sensing;
- EXPLORATION GEOPHYSICSDE: 5460 Physical properties of materials;
- PLANETARY SCIENCES: SOLID SURFACE PLANETSDE: 5464 Remote sensing;
- PLANETARY SCIENCES: SOLID SURFACE PLANETSDE: 5470 Surface materials and properties;
- PLANETARY SCIENCES: SOLID SURFACE PLANETS