South Pole-Aitken Basin Sample Return and eXploration (SPARX) Science Definition Team (SDT)

The most recent planetary science decadal survey, Origins, Worlds, and Life: A Decadal Strategy for Planetary Science and Astrobiology 2023-2032 (OWL), identified a mission to explore and return samples from strategic locations across the Moon’s South Pole-Aitken Basin (SPA), the largest and oldest impact basin on the lunar surface, as the highest priority strategic mission for NASA’s Lunar Discovery and Exploration Program.

In response to the OWL recommendation, the SPARX SDT provides an analysis to SMD’s Deputy Associate Administrator for Exploration (DAAX) on prioritized science objectives and requirements and different implementation approaches for an SPA sample return and exploration mission, as well as outline a variety of strawman science instruments that fully address the SDT-defined science objectives. The SDT’s analyses will be used by NASA to inform decisions on the prioritized science goals and implementation of a near-term SPA Sample Return and Exploration mission, including through both human and/or robotic implementation paths.