Lunar Science and Exploration

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Lunar Science and Exploration In NASAs Science
Mission Directorate Presented to US Chamber of
Commerce August 14, 2007 Kelly Snook and James
Green Planetary Sciences Division
Lunar Science and Exploration In NASAs Science
Mission Directorate Presented to US Chamber of
Commerce August 14, 2007 Kelly Snook and James
Green Planetary Sciences Division
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Outline

• Introduction
• New and ongoing lunar activities and
  opportunities
• Recent studies, meetings, and workshops
• Recommendations
• NASA responses to recommendations

August 14, 2007 NASA Science
Mission Directorate
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SMD Lunar Research Opportunities

• Research Opportunities in Space and Earth
  Sciences (ROSES)
• LASER - Lunar Advanced Science and Exploration
  Research program
• Joint SMD/ESMD
• Basic and Applied lunar science
• Proposals due Sept. 20, 2007
• Up to 4-yr awards, 100K/yr average
• LRO Participating Scientist program
• Research using Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter
  instruments or data
• Proposals due Sept. 7, 2007
• Up to 4-yr awards, 100K/yr average

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August 14, 2007 NASA Science
Mission Directorate
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SMD Lunar Research Opportunities (cont.)

• Research Opportunities in Space and Earth
  Sciences (ROSES), continued
• Planetary Instrument Definition and Development
  program
• Several lunar-focused instruments selected in
  2007
• Augmented in 2008 for lunar instrument
  development
• Up to 4-yr awards, 250K/yr average
• LSSO - Lunar Sortie Science Opportunities
• One-year concept studies
• Selected Spring 2007
• 14 studies selected, 100K average
• Span geology, geophysics, physics, astronomy, and
  astrophysics

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August 14, 2007 NASA Science
Mission Directorate
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Lunar Sortie Science Opportunity Selections
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August 14, 2007 NASA Science
Mission Directorate
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Lunar Sortie Science Opportunity Selections
(cont.)
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August 14, 2007 NASA Science
Mission Directorate
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Lunar Mission Opportunities

• Discovery Program
• Currently Selected
• Moon Mineralogy Mapper (MMM) - Mission of
  opportunity - Instruments aboard Indian
  Chandrayaan mission
• Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL)
  - Selected for Phase A (one of three mission
  concepts to be considered for full mission)
• Future Opportunities
• Announcement of Opportunity for new Missions of
  Opportunity (MOOs) released FY09
• New Frontiers - 800M missions - early FY09
• Yearly MOO call for proposals starting late FY08

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August 14, 2007 NASA Science
Mission Directorate
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NASA Advisory Council (NAC)Lunar Activity

• Workshop on Science Associated with the Lunar
  Architecture
• Held Feb 27- Mar 2 in Tempe, AZ - Joint NASA ESMD
  / NAC
• 35 Recommendations forwarded to NASA Advisory
  Council for deliberation at KSC on April 19, 207
  by Science Committee and full Council
• Three high-level messages developed by the
  Outreach committee
• The Moon is witness to 4.5 billion years of Solar
  System history and human exploration of that body
  will contribute greatly to discovering the origin
  and evolution of the Earth and of life.
• The Moon is a unique location from which to
  gather, analyze and fuse information about the
  ever- changing nature of the Earth, Sun, and
  Universe.
• The Moon is a fundamental stepping-stone to the
  human exploration of Mars and the rest of the
  Solar System.
• Full synthesis report, individual subcommittee
  reports, and outreach committee reports are
  available online (Released April 19, 2007 at
  http//www.hq.nasa.gov/office/oer/nac/minutes.htm

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August 14, 2007 NASA Science
Mission Directorate
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NASA Advisory Council (NAC)Recommendations

• Submitted to NASA April 19, 2007
• 16 cross-cutting recommendations
• Science as a priority and active partner in the
  architecture
• Regular reviews of major architecture decisions
  that would affect science
• Flexibility in architecture enabling early
  sorties and/or alternate outposts
• Importance of early investigation and development
  of key capabilities
• Sample collection, documentation, curation
• Ability to drop off instruments in orbit
• Mobility for wide-area access to sites of key
  scientific importance
• Space suits and gloves
• Crew selection and training
• Dust characterization and mitigation
• Lunar data co-registration and mapping
• Nineteen recommendations from subcommittees
• Three astrophysics science recommendations
  focused on orbital capabilities
• Four heliophysics science recommendations focused
  on space weather and solar wind studies
• Six planetary protection focused on forward and
  back contamination and Mars prep
• Four planetary science focused on specific
  sampling and mobility needs

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August 14, 2007 NASA Science
Mission Directorate
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NRC Lunar Study

• National Research Council (NRC) - Scientific
  Context for the Exploration of the Moon ( May
  2006 - May 2007)
• Primary Tasks
• Identify a prioritized set of scientific goals
  that can be addressed in the in the near term
  (2006-2018) by robotic lunar missions and in the
  mid term (2018-2023) by astronauts on the
  Moon.(2018-2023) by astronauts on the Moon.
• Suggest which of the identified scientific goals
  are amenable to orbital measurements, in situ
  study, or terrestrial analysis via the return of
  lunar samples to the Earth.
• Secondary Tasks
• Comment on those areas where there is a
  synergistic overlap between measurements
  addressing scientific goals and measurements
  required to ensure human survival or resource
  utilization.
• Collect and characterize possible scientific
  goals that might be addressed on or from the Moon
  in the long term (i.e., after 2023) and deserve
  further study.

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Mission Directorate
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Mission Directorate
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NASA Response to Recommendations

• Integrated agency response to NAC recommendations
  through written response package and development
  of integrated study plan
• Workshop on Architecture Issues Associated with
  Sampling held June 25-26,2007
• CAPTEM (Curation and Analysis Planning Team for
  Extraterrestrial Materials) study on sample mass
  completed April, 2007 (resulting report available
  on CAPTEM website http//www.lpi.usra.edu/captem)
• Strong Science Mission Directorate participation
  in second phase of Lunar Architecture Team study
  completed August 2007.
• Establishment of the Outpost Science and
  Exploration Working Group to ensure integration
  of science in all phases of lunar architecture
  development
• New looks at to achieve early robotic scientific
  return from the Moon which may lead to
  competitive missions (I.e Discovery New
  Frontiers)
• Major lunar mapping and data standards definition
  effort underway

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August 14, 2007 NASA Science
Mission Directorate
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Summary of NAC Recommendations

• C-1 - Scientific analysis and input should be
  integral components of the decision-making
  process for a lunar exploration.
• C-2 - Science activities enabled by lunar
  exploration should continue to be evaluated and
  prioritized within the science community.
• C-3 - The lunar architecture should enable the
  highest priority science.
• C-4 - Regular reviews of Lunar Exploration
  Architecture decisions should be conducted
  through the NAC.
• C-5 - The Crew Exploration Vehicle should have
  the capability to deploy payloads from lunar
  orbit (SIM Bay).
• C-6 - NASA should study options for non-polar
  outpost sites.
• C-7 - NASA should keep open the possibility of
  human sortie missions prior to establishing an
  outpost.
• C-8 - The lunar architecture should maximize
  payload return mass and diversity of samples.
  300kg return payload mass per flight suggested.
• C-9 - NASA should establish well-documented
  protocols for the collection, documentation,
  containment, and curation of lunar samples.

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Summary of NAC Recommendations

• C-10 - The selection, roles, and capabilities of
  astronauts in the deployment, operation, and
  servicing of science activities, sampling,
  instruments, should be clearly defined and
  supported.
• C-11 - Development of crew selection criteria and
  a program of astronaut exploration training
  should be initiated.
• C-12 - A vigorous program is needed to
  significantly improve astronaut capabilities in
  EVA suits, specifically suit agility and glove
  dexterity must be significantly enhanced relative
  to Apollo and current ISS EVA suits.
• C-13 - Lunar orbital data sets should be
  geodetically controlled and accurately
  co-registered to create cartographic products
  that will enable fusion, integration, and
  manipulation of all past and future data relevant
  to lunar exploration.
• C-14 - Instruments and procedures should be
  developed and used to understand the in-situ
  electro- magnetic and charged-dust environment at
  a potential Outpost or other lunar site.
• C-15 - Lunar surface operations should include
  precise, documented sampling of the surface
  regolith and regolith strata.
• C-16 - NASA should assess options for large-area
  lunar-surface emplacement of high priority
  science experiments

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Mission Directorate
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Summary of NAC Recommendations

• APS-1 - A radio- quiet environment can be
  maintained on the lunar far side at a site
  suitable for deployment of a low frequency, meter
  wavelength (10-250 MHz) radio observatory
• APS-2 - NASA should investigate ways in which the
  exploration architecture can be enabling for
  astrophysics science
• APS-3 - A study should be conducted to determine
  the feasibility of future use of the
  Constellation Program?s heavy lift capability
  (Ares V) to deliver large Astrophysics payloads
  to space
• ESS-1 - The lunar architecture should be enabling
  for continuous or near-continuous observations of
  the Earth from an Outpost
• ESS-2 - The architecture should include
  provisions for mobility to access a suitable
  location, such as the slope of an Earth-facing
  terrain feature, which provides a full-disc
  vantage point of Earth
• HPS-1 - Early in the human exploration program,
  space-weather predictive capabilities should be
  developed to enable safe, sustained operations on
  the Moon
• HPS-2 - NASA should locate real-time space
  weather monitoring measurements as close to solar
  sources as feasible.

August 14, 2007 NASA Science
Mission Directorate
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Summary of NAC Recommendations

• HPS-3 - Consideration should be given to
  deployment of relevant sensors as drop-off
  satellites
• HPS-4 - Improved measurements should be
  accomplished on the lunar surface of solar wind
  composition and fluxes, the composition and
  fluxes of interplanetary and interstellar grains,
  and high-energy x-rays and gamma rays.
• PPS-1 - Contamination control technologies should
  be developed to the extent feasible before human
  missions are sent to Mars
• PPS-2 - Technologies and experimental equipment
  to perform planetary protection assays should be
  investigated for relevance to human exploration
  requirements
• PPS-3 - Containment technologies for preventing
  contamination of lunar samples or containers
  should be developed
• PPS-4 - In-situ investigation of lunar sites
  using highly sensitive instruments designed to
  search for introduced, biologically derived, or
  other organic compounds should be given high
  priority.
• PPS-5 - NASA should make use of the opportunity
  of lunar exploration to develop planetary
  protection protocols that will be needed for
  exploration of Mars.
• PPS-6 - The International Space Station and the
  facilities on the Moon should be used as test
  beds for advanced life-support systems for Mars
  exploration.

August 14, 2007 NASA Science
Mission Directorate
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Summary of NAC Recommendations

• PSS-1 - The lunar architecture should be enabling
  for understanding the record of impacts in the
  Solar System with access to and sampling of many
  large impact basins and craters on the Moon and
  return of samples to Earth for age dating.
• PSS-2 - The Lunar Architecture should include
  plans to place a long-lived geophysical
  measurement station at every lunar landing site
  of a sufficiently capable human or robotic
  lander, including an outpost site.
• Such packages should contain a seismometer, a
  heat-flow probe, a magnetometer, and possibly an
  optical retroreflector.
• Efforts should be made to coordinate with
  international partners on the emplacement and
  standardization of geophysical stations at
  landing sites established by other partner space
  agencies.
• PSS-3 - To maximize scientific return within the
  current lunar exploration architecture, systems
  and operational options should be defined for
  local (up to 50 km), regional (up to 500 km), and
  global access from an outpost location.
• PSS-4 - A lunar instrument and technology
  development program is needed to provide focused
  technological development for applications on the
  lunar surface.

August 14, 2007 NASA Science
Mission Directorate
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