The gold-plated tracker, surface water-searching imager and radiation detector are among a suite of five instruments aboard one of NASA’s first lunar missions since Apollo 17 in 1972.
Researchers and officials from the agency’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services Program (CLPS) provided an overview of the payload aboard NASA-sponsored Astrobotic’s lunar lander. It will be launched on the maiden flight of United Launch Alliance’s (ULA) Vulcan rocket.
“This whole job is not easy. Landing on the moon is extremely difficult,” said Chris Calvert, CLPS program manager at NASA Johnson Space Center. “We recognize that success cannot be guaranteed. There are many robotic spacecraft on the moon’s surface that were unable to make a soft landing and complete their mission.”
Among the 20 total payloads identified on the Peregrine Mission 1 lander are:
- Laser Retroreflector Array (LRA) – Goddard Space Flight Center
- Neutron Spectrometer System (NSS) – Ames Research Center
- Linear Energy Transfer Spectrometer (LETS) – JSC
- Near Infrared Volatile Spectrometer System (NIRVSS) – ARC
- Hayabusi Ion Trap Mass Spectrometer (PITMS) – GSFC
“Peregrine 1’s particular payload suite has interesting synergies that will make important contributions to lunar science and exploration,” said Paul Niles, NASA’s CLPS project scientist. “Three of our instruments use different techniques to collect data on the moon’s volatiles. Two instruments provide perspective on the lunar radiation environment and help send human missions back to the moon. It helps me prepare.”
“Assessing the surface mineralogy will also provide information about the composition of the surface,” he added.
Calvert noted that some of the equipment onboard Peregrine includes replication planned for other CLPS missions or follow-on science for use on other landers.
One of these is the NIRVSS payload, which combines a near-infrared spectrometer, a multicolor imager, and a four-channel temperature sensor. Together, they study volatile substances like water, whose state of matter can change depending on temperature. Future copies are scheduled to launch aboard NASA’s Volatile Materials Research Polar Rover (VIPER), which is scheduled to launch in late 2024.
“These measurements will help us understand more broadly how water moves across the lunar surface from lower latitudes, and how the Hayabusa mission heads toward higher latitudes near the poles, where permanently shadowed craters are located. ” Tony Colaprete said. Principal researcher of NIRVSS.
He added that in addition to measuring water, NIRVSS, along with other instruments, is expected to measure a wide range of volatile substances while on the lunar surface. He pointed out that sulfur-containing compounds such as hydrogen sulfide and sulfur dioxide, as well as carbon dioxide and methane, could be considered.
“You could also use the NIRVSS instrument to look for hydroxyls. Hydroxyls are like water. Shorten the hydrogen atom. Although it is an OH, it is actually stable at much higher temperatures because it can be chemically bonded to the regolith matrix,” he explained Colapret. “You can sort out what water, H2O, is hydroxyl, what OH is.”
Another piece of equipment shared between multiple CLPS payloads is the LRA. Although this is an instrument with no active functionality, it is an important tool designed to help create markers for landers from space agencies of the United States as well as other countries.
Daniel Clemmons, lead researcher on the LRA payload, explained that the payload has “a hemispherical array of special glass prisms called ‘retroreflectors’ that direct light back toward the illumination source.” .
“The same phenomenon causes a cat’s eyes to glow in the dark or a road sign to glow under a car’s headlights,” Clemons explained. “On the CLPS lander, the LRA serves as a precise marker of the lander’s position and is visible under illumination from a laser ranging system aboard the orbiting or landing spacecraft.”
In response to a question on Spaceflight Now on Thursday, Clemmons said LRAs flying on lunar landers from other countries stem from an international agreement between NASA and the relevant international space agencies, and are similar to the Artemis Accords. said it was unrelated.
Controversy over cremation loading capacity
NASA’s payload is some of the key highlights of the Peregrine Mission 1 flight, but it’s not the only passenger in the spotlight on the mission.
Celestis Memorial Spaceflights carries two payloads that fly on Vulcan rockets. An Enterprise flight carrying the ashes of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry and stars James Doohan and Nichelle Nichols will be launched into heliocentric orbit around the sun. The company’s other payload, called Tranquility Flight, will also include the cremated remains of a group of people.
“Since he was 12 years old, he has dedicated his life to helping humanity get off this little rock and become a space-faring civilization.”
💙 We are honored to carry the remains of astronaut Philip Chapman on the upcoming Celestis Enterprise flight. Join him on a journey into deep space! pic.twitter.com/lnFzHpbSYJ— Celestis, Inc. 🚀 Memorial Spaceflights (@celestisflights) December 28, 2023
This second payload was inspired by a letter from Navajo Nation President Boo Nygren to NASA and the U.S. Department of Transportation. native news online We first reported on the December 21, 2023 letter.
During a conference call Thursday, Joel Kearns, deputy assistant administrator for the Exploration and Science Mission Directorate, referred to the letter and said that because the CLPS mission is not officially a NASA mission, NASA will be responsible for all payloads it flies. He said he did not have the final say. their commercial partners.
“With these new opportunities and new ways of doing business, we recognize that some non-NASA commercial payloads may be a cause for concern for some communities,” Kearns said. said. “And those communities may not understand that these missions are commercial and not U.S. government missions like we’re talking about.”
He added that an intergovernmental conference with the Navajo Nation will be established with support from NASA. Kearns did not elaborate on when the meeting would be held, who would attend or whether it would be open to the public in any way.
Nygren’s letter asked for Peregrine Mission 1 to be postponed, but there seems to be no sign of that happening.
Vulcan ready for flight
Thursday also brought news that ULA’s Vulcan rocket has passed Launch Readiness Review (LRR) and is ready for its maiden flight. The evaluation was led by Tom Heter III, ULA launch director at the Advanced Spaceflight Operations Center (ASOC) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The rocket rolled onto the launch pad Friday morning.
According to ULA, the rocket is designated V-001 and is flying in the VC2S configuration. This means it carries two solid rocket boosters and flies a short payload fairing.
This is the first of two certification missions (Cert-1) required before the rocket can begin flying U.S. Space Force National Security Space Launch (NSSL) missions. The launch is scheduled for a 45-minute launch window beginning on the morning of January 8th at 2:18 a.m. ET (07:18 UTC).
The rocket is powered by two Blue Origin BE-4 engines in the Vulcan booster stage and two Aerojet Rocketdyne RL10C-1-1A engines in the Centaur 5 upper stage. From 2025, Centaur 5 will use his RL10C-X engine with a 3D printed combustion chamber.
“3D printing allows Aerojet Rocketdyne to manufacture copper chambers in a much shorter time than it takes to build traditional tube wall chambers,” George Pflueger, senior director of the RL10 program, said in a statement. ” he said. “This will enable Aerojet’s Rocketdyne to dramatically increase production rates while reducing costs.”
Aerojet Rocketdyne also offers 12 MR-107 attitude control thrusters along with pressurized helium tanks for the vehicle.