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EPSC Abstracts,
Vol. 3, EPSC2008-A-00395, 2008
European Planetary Science Congress, © Author(s) 2008
MoonNEXT: A European Mission to the Moon
J. D. Carpenter (1), D. Koschny (1), I. Crawford (2), H. Falcke (3), S. Kempf (4), P. Lognonne (5), C. Ricci
(6), B. Houdou (1) and A. Pradier (1)
(1) ESA ESTEC, Noordwijk, Netherlands, (2) School of Earth Sciences, Birkbeck College, London, UK, (3)
Department of Astrophysics, Faculty of Science, Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands, (4) MPI für
Kernphysik, Heidelberg, Germany, (5) IPGP, Paris, France, (6) Univ. Milan, Milan, Italy.
([email protected] / Fax: +31 (0) 71 565 5354 )
MoonNEXT is a mission currently being studied,
under the direction of the European Space Agency,
whose launch is foreseen between 2015 and 2018.
MoonNEXT is intended to prepare the way for future
exploration activities on the Moon, while addressing
key science questions.
Exploration Objectives
The primary goal for the MoonNEXT mission is to
demonstrate autonomous soft precision landing with
hazard avoidance; a key capability for future
exploration missions. The nominal landing site is at
the South Pole of the Moon, at the edge of the Aitken
basin and in the region of Shackleton crater, which has
been identified as an optimal location for a future
human outpost by the NASA lunar architecture team
[1]. This landing site selection ensures a valuable
contribution by MoonNEXT to the Global Exploration
Strategy [2].
MoonNEXT will also prepare for future lunar
exploration activities by characterising the
environment at the lunar surface. The potentially
hazardous radiation environment will me monitored
while a dedicated instrument package will investigate
the levitation and mobility of lunar dust. Experience
on Apollo demonstrated the potentially hazardous
effects of dust for surface operations and human
activities and so an understanding of these processes is
important for the future.
Life sciences investigations will be carried out into the
effects of the lunar environment (including radiation,
gravity and illumination conditions) on a man made
ecosystem analogous to future life support systems. In
doing so MoonNEXT will demonstrate the first
extraterrestrial man made ecosystem and develop
valuable expertise for future missions.
Geological and geochemical investigations will
explore the possibilities for In Situ Resource
Utilisation (ISRU), which will be essential for long
term human habitation on the Moon and is of
particular importance at the proposed landing site,
given its potential as a future habitat location.
Science Objectives
In addition to providing extensive preparation and
technology demonstration for future exploration
activities MoonNEXT will advance our understanding
of the origin, structure and evolution of the Moon.
These advances in understanding will come about
through a range of geophysical and geochemical
investigations. MoonNEXT will also assess the value
of the lunar surface as a future site for performing
science from the Moon, using radio astronomy as an
example.
The scientific objectives are:
• To study the geophysics of the Moon, in
particular the origin, differentiation, internal
structure and early geological evolution of
the Moon.
• To obtain in-situ geochemical data from,
within the Aitken Basin, where material from
the lower crust and possibly the upper mantle
may be found.
• To investigate the nature of volatiles
implanted into the lunar regolith at the South
Pole and identify their species.
• To study the environment at the lunar South
pole, in particular to measure the radiation
environment, the dust flux due to impact
ejecta and micrometeoroids, and a possibly
the magnetic field.
• To study the effect of the lunar environment
on biological systems.
• To further our understanding of the
ULF/VLF background radiation of the
universe.
• Investigate the electromagnetic environment
of the moon at radio wavelengths with the
potential to perform astronomical radio
observations.
Various mission scenarios are currently under study,
incorporating options for a lander-only configuration
or a lander with the possible addition of a rover. The
working experimental payload includes cameras,
broad band and short period seismometers, a radiation
monitor, instruments to measure dust transport and
micrometeoroid fluxes, instruments to provide
elemental and mineralogical analyses of surface rocks,
a mole for subsurface heat flow and regolith properties
measurements, a radio antenna and a package
containing a self sustaining biological system to
observe the effects of the lunar environment.
The addition of a rover, if shown to be feasible, would
provide mobility for geochemical measurements,
which is essential if geological units are to be
examined in context. In the region around the South
pole of the Moon investigations into excavated
material related to the Aitken basin will require
mobility to access the blocky ejecta fields associated
with ~100m diameter craters.
Mobility could also provide a means for the
deployment of a network of short period seismometers
for studies of regolith properties and the meteorite flux.
The separation of the rover from the lander would
provide a baseline for radio interferometry, which
could provide the first ever image of the sky at
wavelengths inaccessible from the Earth.
MoonNEXT and the International Lunar Network
In early 2008 NASA presented the concept of the
International Lunar Network (ILN) this would
comprise a network of several landers, provided by
various countries and international agencies, which
would be distributed at various locations across the
surface of the Moon. Each of these landers would
include a package for making geophysical
measurements and their combined data set would
provide detail on the internal structure and history of
the Moon which is only possible through a globally
distributed network.
The proposed landing site, scientific instrument
package and mission timescale for MoonNEXT mean
that it is well suited as a European node to the ILN.
Summary and Conclusions
MoonNEXT is an ESA mission to the Lunar South
Pole. MoonNEXT prepares the way for future
exploration activities through technology demonstratin
and characterisation of the landing site and its
environment. In addition MoonNEXT addresses
fundamental science questions relating to geophysics,
geochemistry and the lunar environment.
As a stand alone mission MoonNEXT provides a
valuable step in the exploration and understanding of
the Moon. This mission is also potentially an
important European contribution to the International
Lunar Network.
References
[1] Report of the NASA Lunar Architecture Team
(2006)
[2] The Global Exploration Strategy,
http://zuserver2.star.ucl.ac.uk/~iac/GES.pdf.