What We Study
The Moon is crucial for solar system science and exoplanet studies. Understanding the Moon helps us understand other planets, how they have evolved and the processes which have shaped their surfaces. It also helps us understand the influence the Moon has had on the Earth, the record of the ancient Sun, and it serves as a platform to study the rest of the universe. By using the Moon as our closest testing ground for robotics and instrument systems, we can further human exploration to not only the Moon, but the rest of the solar system. Leveraging human exploration infrastructure and resources supports and advances our ability to conduct remote field geology and other science investigations on planetary bodies with both crew and robotic assets.
The Cornerstone to our Universe
The overall mission of ESSIO aims to ensure science from all the SMD divisions is being enabled by and included within exploration elements and technology investments throughout the entire agency. Strategic thinking on the best path forward for decadal-level science in exploration activities is applied to our commercial initiatives, international partnerships as well as cross-directorate collaborations.
Planetary Processes
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We’re studying geological processes that have been occurring on the Moon since its inception.
Many types of planetary processes have occurred throughout the Moon's history, which makes it an accessible natural laboratory for investigation. Geologic evidence of these processes abounds, such as impact cratering, volcanism, space weathering, and tectonism. Present day processes such as active tectonism and seismic activity, mass wasting, and impact cratering make it an ideal target for investigating this surface activity. As a differentiated planetary body, evidence of magma ocean differentiation processes and magmatic activity are also preserved in the geologic record accessible to human and robotic explorers.
Topography of Earth’s moon generated from data collected by the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter, aboard NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, with the gravity anomalies bordering the Procellarum region superimposed in blue. The border structures are shown using gravity gradients calculated with data from NASA’s Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) mission. These gravity anomalies are interpreted as ancient lava-flooded rift zones buried beneath the volcanic plains (or maria) on the nearside of the Moon.NASA GSFC
Volatile Cycles
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We have much to learn about the elements and chemicals that make up our Moon.
Orbital observations of the Moon’s surface and chemical analyses of Apollo samples and those kicked up by the Lunar Crater Observing and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) have revealed evidence of volatiles (water and other chemical species). Several questions remain about the lunar water cycle: what is the source of lunar volatiles? What form are they in? What is their abundance? How are volatiles distributed across the surface and at depth? Can our instruments access subsurface volatiles? How do volatiles move across the lunar surface? Our current understanding is that many surface volatiles are located within permanently shadowed regions (PSRs) or areas (primarily in craters) at the lunar poles that never get exposed to sunlight and thus experience extreme cold temperatures, which allows for water and other volatiles to become trapped in these areas. Surveying the lunar subsurface and investigation of PSR environments will allow us to determine the answers to many unanswered questions, including where these volatiles came from, and how and where they are sequestered. Retrieval of samples from PSRs will allow us to better study the nature of these trapped volatiles.
A team at NASA�s Kennedy Space Center in Florida tests small- and medium-sized bucket drums July 16, 2021, in the Granular Mechanics and Regolith Operations Lab�s �big bin� during prototype development for the pilot excavator, a robotic mission designed for lunar operations. The bucket drum excavated lunar regolith simulant. The Swamp Works team leveled and compacted the simulant before excavation as well as measured penetration during the excavator testing. Robotics engineers Jason Schuler and Austin Langton worked inside the bin, teaming up with software engineer Kurt Leucht, who worked just outside of it.NASA/Kim Shiflett
Impact History of the Earth/Moon System
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The impact history of the Earth-Moon system provides a historical record of our entire solar system.
The Moon’s surface contains a complete record of the impact history of the inner solar system that stretches back to the formation of the Earth-Moon system, unlike the Earth, where rocks are recycled through plate tectonics or weathered away by fluvial and aeolian processes. Understanding the Moon’s impact history can therefore help us better understand the impact history of the Earth-Moon system and how these impacts affected our own planet.
Returning samples from the giant South Pole-Aitken (SPA) Basin on the far side of the Moon will enable us to determine the age of the basin and anchor the early Earth-Moon impact-flux curve. Returned samples and studies of crater statistics indicate that the lunar impactor flux was relatively constant over the last 3 billion years but was much higher before this time period. Some models of planet formation suggest there was a “late heavy bombardment” period around 3.9 billion years (just about the time life on Earth was emerging), when the impact flux in the inner solar system was incredibly high. Dating SPA will help us better determine whether there was a spike in impacts during this time interval, and if so, how that may have affected life on Earth.
Studying asteroid impacts on the Moon uncovers Earth�s past.NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio
Record of the Ancient Sun
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We can learn about the Sun by studying its effects on the Moon.
We can also study the Sun by looking to the Moon. The Moon’s surface has been bathed in solar wind and cosmic rays throughout its history. Buried regolith, such as that trapped between lava flows, retains a historical record of solar wind fluxes. Collection of core tube samples to study these particles trapped in regolith layers will help us understand both regolith stratigraphy and the history of the solar wind and the implications this has on how the Sun has changed with time.
A front view of the Apollo 14 Lunar Module (LM), which reflects a circular flare caused by the brilliant sun, as seen by the two moon-exploring crew men (out of frame) of the Apollo 14 lunar landing mission during their first extravehicular activity (EVA). The unusual ball of light was said by the astronauts to have a jewel-like appearance. In the left background Cone Crater can be seen. In the left foreground are the erectable S-Band antenna and the United States flag. Astronauts Alan B. Shepard Jr., commander, and Edgar D. Mitchell, lunar module pilot, descended in the LM, while astronaut Stuart A. Roosa, command module pilot, remained with the Command and Service Modules (CSM) in lunar orbit.NASA
Biological Systems on the Moon
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We’re studying the extreme lunar environment to determine its effects on biological systems.
The understanding of how biological systems and processes are impacted by the lunar environment is extremely limited, with many key knowledge gaps existing in areas of physiological change, response, acclimation, and adaptation. Biological research investigations are focused on studying the impacts of this unique extreme environment on the lunar surface and in orbit. The principal environmental factors of the Moon that are associated with effects on biology include solar and galactic cosmic radiations, lunar albedo radiation, one-sixth gravity, and lunar dust and regolith. Studies will focus on characterize physiological changes within individual organs and combined physiological systems and discovering the root causes and underlying biochemical and molecular biological pathways and networks responsible for the observed biological effects.
To conduct detailed, deep biological analyses that cannot be conducted on humans, space biosciences use model organisms and in vitro physiological systems of human biology. The data from these studies will advance fundamental knowledge and translate to understanding human health in the extreme space exploration environment beyond low Earth orbit. To understand plant physiology, a combination of crop plants and traditional genetic models of plants are used to build knowledge that will lead to sustainable agriculture on the Moon and beyond to Mars.
University of Florida scientists observe plates filled partially with lunar soil and partially with control soils under LED growing lights. At the time, the scientists were unsure if the seeds would even germinate in lunar soil.UF/Tyler Jones
Physical Sciences on the Moon
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The unique gravitational properties of the Moon will inform efforts to study and inhabit its environment.
Based on studies conducted on the International Space Station and Earth-based drop towers, it is known that microgravity has profound effects on behavior and properties of different physical systems. Also, these models predict that these behavior and properties of these systems will be different from those observed in microgravity when in lunar gravity on the Moon. For example, data reveal that most materials are more flammable in lunar gravity, but we do not currently know the changes in these limits for most materials that will be used in an exploration environment. Lunar gravity allows investigators to test different physical system models for combustion, fluid physics, and materials to validate the models or to develop new ones associated with partial lunar gravity. Also, important knowledge gaps exist that are associated with the behavior and properties of physical systems on the Moon that are key to the development of effective technologies and processes for in situ resource utilization, on-Moon manufacturing, and regenerative and self-sustaining habitat environments.
Fundamental Physics
Both the low gravity environment of the Moon and its distance from Earth enable studies in areas of quantum physics and General Relativity. As such, investigations on the lunar surface and in lunar orbit will advance basic knowledge of the fundamental laws of physics and test decades old theories. Studies of soft matter properties and behavior of regolith and lunar dust in lunar gravity will provide new scientific insight that should advance knowledge associated with the geochemistry and geophysics of the Moon. The placement of sensors and instruments on the Moon alone or in combination with lunar landers will allow scientists to conduct experiments that study surface-plume interactions, plasma interaction with regolith and its dust, and compression properties of the regolith due to the weight of the landers. The data and models derived from these soft matter studies may be used in combination with physical sciences data to advance innovative technologies and processes for in situ resource utilization, manufacturing, and regenerative and self-sustaining habitat environments.
Like other rocky bodies in the solar system, including Earth, the Moon has both a bumpy surface and a lumpy interior. Spacecraft in orbit around the Moon experience slight variations in gravity caused by both of these irregularities. This free-air gravity map highlights these deviations.NASA Goddard
Platform to the Solar System
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The Moon provides scientists with a platform for studying the entire solar system.
The Moon serves as a platform for understanding the rest of the solar system. Its lack of an atmosphere allows the full electromagnetic spectrum to be visible from the lunar surface. The far side of the Moon is the only known place in the Solar System permanently shielded from Earth’s radio noise, meaning it's an ideal location to perform radio astronomy, which can enable astrophysicists to investigate a period of time known as the Dark Ages, an epoch shortly after the Big Bang when stars and galaxies had not yet formed in the expanding Universe.
The far side of the lunar surface captured in monochrome mode by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) Wide Angle Camera (WAC). This pieced together photo was the first of its kind as a resource to the scientific community.NASA
