New Lunar Dust Sampling and Lunar Drill Technology Launches Tomorrow

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Firefly Blue Ghost 1 lunar lander launches tomorrow to go to the moon with a lot of new science gear including the PlanetVac.

PlanetVac will collect samples of lunar regolith (soil) from the surface using a pneumatic technique (powered by compressed gas) and its delivery system will transfer the samples to other instruments that will analyze the material. The payload will be attached to a lander footpad and connected to instruments via a pneumatic transfer hose. Lunar PlanetVac is a pneumatic based sample acquisition and delivery system that will acquire and transfer lunar regolith from the surface to other instruments that will analyze the material. It consists of three subsystems: Sampling Head, Transfer Tube, and Sample Container. Pressurized gas is jetted towards the surface within the Sampling Head, stirring up the regolith into a cloud of dust. A secondary set of jets pointed up the Transfer Tube carry this regolith directly into a Sample Container. The sampling operation takes a few seconds and does not require human in the loop. Captured regolith, up to 1 cm in size, will be sieved and photographed inside the Sample Container. LPV is classified as a technology is applicable for any mission or instrument that requires a surface (or subsurface) sample.


Type of Instrument: Pneumatic regolith sampling system
Key Measurement: LPV will collect and sort surface lunar regolith within a sample collection chamber.
Lead Development Organization: Honeybee Robotics

DRILLING INTO THE MOON – Lunar Instrumentation for Subsurface Thermal Exploration with Rapidity (LISTER )

LISTER will measure the flow of heat originating from the interior of the Moon. It is designed to penetrate 2- to 3-meters depth into the Moon’s rock and dust surface (the lunar regolith) and determine the heat flow as a product of two separate measurements: thermal gradient – how temperature changes with depth; and thermal conductivity – how well heat flows via conduction – at various depths using five measurements.
Type of Instrument: pneumatically-drilled subsurface thermal probe
Key Measurement: quantify the heat flow through temperature and the thermal conductivity measurements

Lead Development Organization: Texas Tech University
Payload PI: Dr. Seiichi Nagihara

Earth’s nearest neighboring body in the solar system is its Moon, yet to date humans have physically explored just 5% of its surface. It wasn’t until 2023 – building on Apollo-era data and more detailed studies made in 2011-2012 by NASA’s automated GRAIL (Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory) mission – that researchers conclusively determined that the Moon has a liquid outer core surrounding a solid inner core.

As NASA and its industry partners plan for continued exploration of the Moon under Artemis in preparation for future long-duration missions to Mars, improving our understanding of Earth’s 4.5-billion-year-old Moon will help teams of researchers and astronauts find the safest ways to study and live and work on the lunar surface.

That improved understanding is the primary goal of a state-of-the-art science instrument called LISTER (Lunar Instrumentation for Subsurface Thermal Exploration with Rapidity), one of 10 NASA payloads flying aboard the next delivery for the agency’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative and set to be carried to the surface by Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost 1 lunar lander.

Developed jointly by Texas Tech University in Lubbock and Honeybee Robotics of Altadena, California, LISTER will measure the flow of heat from the Moon’s interior. Its sophisticated pneumatic drill will penetrate to a depth of three meters into the dusty lunar regolith. Every half-meter it descends, the drilling system will pause and extend a custom-built thermal probe into the lunar regolith. LISTER will measure two different aspects of heat flow: thermal gradient, or the changes in temperature at various depths, and thermal conductivity, or the subsurface material’s ability to let heat pass through it.

“By making similar measurements at multiple locations on the lunar surface, we can reconstruct the thermal evolution of the Moon,” said Dr. Seiichi Nagihara, principal investigator for the mission and a geophysics professor at Texas Tech. “That will permit scientists to retrace the geological processes that shaped the Moon from its start as a ball of molten rock, which gradually cooled off by releasing its internal heat into space.”

Demonstrating the drill’s effectiveness could lead to more innovative drilling capabilities, enabling future exploration of the Moon, Mars, and other celestial bodies.. The science collected by LISTER aims to contribute to our knowledge of lunar geology, improving our ability to establish a long-term presence on the Moon under the Artemis campaign.

Stereo Cameras for Lunar Plume-Surface Studies

SCALPSS 1.1 is a slightly enhanced version of the original SCALPSS payload, which deployed as a part of CLPS Task Order 2-IM (Intuitive Machines’ IM-1 mission). It will capture video and still image data of the lunar surface prior to, during, and after the lander’s descent engine plumes interact with the lunar surface. The 1.1 version features two additional cameras, which are optimized to begin capturing image data at a higher altitude prior to the expected onset of plume-surface interaction. By collecting topographical data through stereo photogrammetry both prior to and after Plume-Surface Interactions (PSI), an accurate measurement of the total erosion and crater volume can be made. The enhancements on 1.1 will provide a more accurate before-and-after PSI comparison. Transient data collected while PSI is occurring will add information regarding the rate at which the surface morphology changes. This data will then be used to validate computational models of PSI effects which are critical in the design and risk evaluation of future large lunar landers. The SCALPSS 1.1 payload is based off the Entry, Descent, and Landing Camera Suite (EDL) used by the Mars 2020 lander, which acquired visual data via complement of camera systems.
Type of Instrument: Camera
Key Measurement: Topography data to accurately determine the total erosion and crater volume during PSI as well as the rate of change. Return of validation data for computational models of PSI effects to be used on future landers.
Task Order: CLPS TO19D
Lead Development Organization: NASA LaRC
Payload PI: Michelle Munk