NASA Selects 12 New Lunar Science, Technology Investigations
From NASA Release 19-053: NASA has selected 12 new science and technology payloads that will help us study the Moon and explore more of its surface as part of the agency鈥檚 Artemis lunar program. These investigations and demonstrations will help the agency send astronauts to the Moon by 2024 as a way to prepare to send humans to Mars for the first time.
The selected investigations will go to the Moon on future flights through NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) project. The CLPS project allows rapid acquisition of lunar delivery services for payloads like these that advance capabilities for science, exploration, or commercial development of the Moon. Many of the new selections incorporate existing hardware, such as parts or models designed for missions that have already flown. Seven of the new selections are focused on answering questions in planetary science or heliophysics, while five will demonstrate new technologies.
"The selected lunar payloads represent cutting-edge innovations, and will take advantage of early flights through our commercial services project,鈥 said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of the agency's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. "Each demonstrates either a new science instrument or a technological innovation that supports scientific and human exploration objectives, and many have broader applications for Mars and beyond.鈥
The selected NESS investigation is:
The Lunar Surface Electromagnetics Experiment (LuSEE)
LuSEE will integrate flight-spare and repurposed hardware from the NASA Parker Solar Probe FIELDS experiment, the STEREO/Waves instrument, and the MAVEN mission to make comprehensive measurements of electromagnetic phenomena on the surface of the Moon. The principal investigator is Stuart Bale of University of California, Berkeley.