J A Hamilton | Search NASA

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Exploring de Gerlache Crater

The campaign of Artemis missions will result in the first crewed missions to the surface of the Moon in the 21stCentury. As outlined by the Lunar Exploration Analysis Group (LEAG) United States Lunar Exploration Roadmap (US-LER), human missions to the Moon will result in significant advances across a wide variety of scientific and engineering disciplines[1]contributing significantly to scientific discovery, economic prosperity, and world security. A significant focus is exploring lunar Permanently Shadowed Regions (PSRs). PSRs can contain volatiles, including water ice, which makes them high priority for scientific investigation and economic activity.

Moon↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Mineralogical, Elemental, and Tomographic Reconnaissance Investigation for CLPS (Metric)

Geological solids are characterized by their mineral structure, elemental composition, and morphology. The Mineralogical, Elemental, and Tomographic Reconnaissance Investigation for CLPS (METRIC) is an instrument payload that will quantify all three. METRIC comprises a suite of instruments in a lander to perform X-ray diffraction (XRD) for mineral structure, X-ray fluorescence (XRF) for elemental composition, and X-ray Micro Computed Tomography (XCT) for 3D internal micromorphology. The instruments are accompanied by an Infrared Spectrometer (IRS) provide geologic context. A Honeybee Robotics pneumatic sampling and transfer system [e.g., 1] will be positioned under the lander to deliver sieved regolith to the X-ray instruments for analysis. This payload is envisioned for deployment to the lunar surface on a Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) lander but could be carried on a lander or rover to any solid surface in the solar system.

E B Rampe↗