There are at least two lunar missions happening this month. On Wednesday, November 30th, a commercial Japanese lander called Hakuto-R to the Moon is expected to be launched by a SpaceXFalcon 9. There will be a small moonshot hidden inside the rocket.
As part of a wave of increased commercial interest in the Moon, the lander could be one of the first private missions to land on the Moon. This is the first lunar mission for the U.S., following its successful Mars mission in 2020. NASA has engaged commercial partners in its future lunar endeavors, from two planned SpaceX lunar landers to its Commercial lunar Payload Services program, all in anticipation of future crewed lunar missions, with the first steps in getting humans back on the Moon.
The purpose of the lunar Flashlight mission is to search for ice on the Moon's surface. Every six days, the satellite will make a close approach to the Moon's south pole to collect data. The instrument bounces lasers off the Moon's surface to see if the material is ice or rock.
Glenn Lightsey of Georgia Tech is one of the co-principal investigators for the lunar Flashlight project. The flight that an airliner takes over the surface of the Earth is called that. We are skimming the surface of the moon to make science measurements.
NASA has stepped up their interest in programs that can identify or access lunar ice due to the increasing certainty that ice exists on the Moon. The Break the Ice lunar challenge invites proposals for technologies that could mine ice.
Studying the distribution of ice across the Moon can help answer questions about the Moon's history. There is still a question as to how this ice came to the Moon. It could have been deposited on the surface by comets.
The purpose is to enable future missions. If there is significant quantities of ice at the Moon, it will be a game-changer for how we will explore the moon.
Water is important for human missions because it can be used as a fuel oxidizer. It isn't practical to carry water from Earth to the Moon. Water can be used as a resource if it is accessible on the Moon.
A lunar flashlight can be used to identify ice deposits. A map of ice in the south polar region will be created with a resolution of just over half a mile. Future projects like the VIPER lunar rover can pin this down into more precise maps. Designed to locate ice deposits at the lunar south pole, VIPER is scheduled for launch in 24 years.
The data from lunar Flashlight will be supplemented by information gathered from other missions, such as the LunaH-Map and lunar IceCubeSats, which recently launched with NASA's new Space Launch System rocket. LunaH-Map is currently experiencing problems with its propulsion system, but if it is able to recover, it will use its neutron spectrometer to search for ice deposits beneath the lunar surface.
These missions could help enable crewed Moon missions for a long time. Lightsey said that if there is ice there is a big strategic factor in how we will set up long-term habitation on the moon. We would like to know how much there is and where it is. We're trying to find lunar ice.
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