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WASHINGTON — As NASA evaluates proposals for commercially developed small lunar landers, the agency is now seeking payloads that could fly on those spacecraft despite concerns from some scientists that they don't know if their experiments are compatible with those landers.
NASA released Oct. 18 a formal solicitation for "Lunar Surface Instrument and Technology Payloads" that seeks experiments for flight on lander missions procured by the agency's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program. NASA plans to select 8 to 12 experiments next year for launch no earlier than 2020, with an overall budget of between $24 and 36 million in the first year of the program.
In a statement, NASA said it's looking for payloads "that advance capabilities for science, exploration, or commercial development of the moon." That includes, according to the solicitation, work by any of the agency's four science divisions, so-called "Strategic Knowledge Gaps" for human exploration and technologies needed for future lunar exploration.
"We are looking for ways to not only conduct lunar science but to also use the moon as a science platform to look back at the Earth, observe the sun, or view the vast universe," said Steve Clarke, deputy associate administrator for exploration in NASA's Science Mission Directorate, in the statement. "In terms of technology, we are interested in those instruments or systems that will help future missions — both human and robotic — explore the moon and feed forward to future Mars missions."
However, NASA's statement listed what it expects some of those first payloads to be: "On early missions, science instruments will likely gather data related to heat flow within the Moon's interior, solar wind and atmosphere as well as dust detection."
Source: https://spacenews.com/nasa-issues-call-for-payloads-to-go-on-commercial-lunar-landers/
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday October 22 2018, @03:04PM
It seems like the most interesting experiments would be done on the surface of Mars, or in the microgravity of orbit.
Can anything grow in the lunar soil? On Mars you could see if it is possible to grow asparagus, spinach or other unappealing vegetables.
Maybe one could construct bricks, in some way, from lunar soil. This question is also interesting to ask about Martian soil. Do you have to bring enough materials along to make it impractical? With regard to lunar soil, don't we know enough about it to make a lunar soil simulant, with which we could do just about any experiments with the soil.
Are there experiments that are useful to do in the low lunar gravity instead of the microgravity of freefall?
Idea: put a telescope on the far side of the moon. (not "dark" side) There's no weather, not much clouds. No sandstorms. Even in daylight you could possibly make useful observations. It may be possible to assemble a larger telescope in parts, or an array, than anything in orbit. Then you need a communication network to be able to get commands and data between the installation and Earth. Surface relay stations? Or lunar orbit satellites? Is there anything further out than the far side of the moon to interfere with observations? (other than lunar orbit satellites?)
Proposal from Boeing: A lunar surface payload to experimentally determine the amount of money that Boeing can get from NASA. Requires at least 2 SLS launches.
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(Score: 4, Touché) by Runaway1956 on Monday October 22 2018, @04:57PM
despite concerns from some scientists that they don't know if their experiments are compatible with those landers
Uhhhhhh - I suppose the first thing for any scientist to do is, find out what the parameters of the craft and the flight will be. Things like, "Your thingamabob must fit within this three dimensional space, H times W times L. Your doohickey must be able to withstand x.x gravities. Your whatchacallit must withstand one atmospheric pressure of vacuum, if it contains gasses. Your something-or-other must not mass more than xxx kilograms. The entire apparatus should have attachments that will accept securing hooks and straps according to the specification in attachment Z5." And, oh yeah. The kicker. "Your package will be delivered to the launch pad by a gang of ex-convicts who currently work for the USPS. None of these guys is less than seven feet tall, and they are rather boisterous."
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 22 2018, @09:45PM
The experiment would be to see if the world is a better place without her.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 23 2018, @12:32AM
Re: NASA Issues Call for Payloads to Go on Commercial Lunar Landers
-1 Troll