WASHINGTON – NASA is seeking scientists’ ideas about the research that astronauts could perform on the first Artemis landing mission in 2024.
NASA announced on August 21 that it is looking for short white papers on the science that astronauts can perform on the Artemis 3 mission. The papers, no more than two pages long, are due by the agency by Sept. 8.
The papers will support work by a team of science definition in NASA’s Science Mission Directorate to develop scientific goals for the Artemis 3 mission. That team will also use a number of other resources, ranging from the planetary science decadal survey to a “roadmap” for lunar science created by an advisory group, the Lunar Exploration Analysis Group.
“We want to make sure we are science ready to go,” Lori Glaze, director of NASA’s planetary science division, said at an Aug. 17 meeting of NASA’s Planetary Science Advisory Committee. This includes making sure that the astronauts are trained in science and are equipped with the right tools and instruments. “They will have what they need to do science on the surface.”
The scientific goals, she said, will feed into the overall goals for the Artemis 3 mission being developed by the Human Directorate for Exploration and Operations Mission. “We want to be part of that effort,” she said, “to make sure we have the scientific input.”
What possibilities scientists have on Artemis 3 are not yet clear, but are likely to be limited, at least compared to plans for later missions. While NASA is studying concepts for an unpressurized rover and the Japanese space agency JAXA has announced its announcement to develop a pressure rover, NASA’s announcement for the white papers says that the two astronauts on Artemis 3 will perform “multiple walking tournaments” at its landing site near the south pole of the moon, but makes no mention of a robber.
During these lunar excursions, astronauts will collect monster coins and use regolith monsters and cameras and other instruments, including both those exploited by the astronauts themselves and those on the surface, potentially for surgery after the astronauts leave.
The call for white papers does not seek information about instruments or related technologies, but NASA is already studying what is needed. “We’re trying to figure out what instrumentation is needed,” Brad Bailey, a program scientist at the agency’s Exploration Science Strategy and Integration Office, said later in the meeting. That ranges from handheld tools to those that can be bolted to the side of the lander.
Some instruments and other equipment, he said, could be delivered in advance to robotic carriers, such as through NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services program.
One open issue is how many samples the Artemis 3 and later missions will be able to return to Earth. The call for proposals for the Human Landing System program last fall set a minimum mass of returned samples of just 35 kilograms, including the mass of the sample containers. Agencies then said the goal was to return 100 kilograms, but that the rush to return to the moon by 2024 placed restrictions on what could be done on at least that first landing mission. This has caused concern among scientists who continue to study the samples returned by the Apollo missions half a century ago, but are envious of new samples.
Returning as many samples as possible remains a priority, Bailey said. “Exemplary science is absolutely core and central to everything we plan to move forward,” he said. “One of our main goals is to bring back samples, and a lot of them. You may not have enough samples. ”
