Lunar Discovery and Exploration - NASA Science

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In the Science Mission Directorate (SMD), the Exploration Science Strategy Integration Office (ESSIO) ensures science is infused into all aspects of lunar exploration. Through researching the Moon and its environment, and by using the Moon as an observation platform, NASA strives to gain a greater understanding of the Moon, the solar system, the universe, and the deep space environment. We integrate goals of the National Academy’s Decadal Surveys as well as other scientific community documents with the priorities of the Agency into a comprehensive strategy for lunar science. Amongst other things, our office is tasked with the integration of science into Artemis and the Moon to Mars architecture.

ESSIO leads integration between SMD Divisions, NASA Mission Directorates, other government agencies, international partners, as well as the broad scientific and commercial communities.

This integration is accomplished through development of instruments/payloads, leading cross-directorate activities, fostering international partnerships, and creating innovative methods of sending payloads to the lunar surface with commercial entities.

A ridge that is comprised of lunar rock is grey in color with silver highlights. A large dark shadow reaches out behind the central peak of Tycho. The foreground is comprised of smaller mounds of the crater that are similarly illuminated by sunlight.

On June 10th, 2011, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) captured this striking image of the Tycho crater. The crater is in the southern lunar highlands and is approximately 82km in diameter. The crater’s notable feature is how steep it is which is due to the fact is a relatively young crater (110 million years old).

NASA

The Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) aims to build a sustainable lunar economy that will produce rapid, frequent, and affordable access to the lunar surface and cislunar space.

The payloads we are sending to the Moon have instruments that will produce new and complementary lunar datasets to aid in scientific research and exploration of the Moon and beyond. These payloads will help us answer high priority science questions, allow us to test new technologies, and help us prepare and reduce risk for human surface exploration.

The towering Artemis I rocket is illuminated against a black background. The rocket is lit up by the launchpad lights surrounding it around the bottom. The rocket stand with its bright orange and white body is in front of the grey launch mount.

Orion spacecraft is pictured here aboard NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket on top of the mobile launcher. This launch attempt in August 2022, pushed back due to engine temperatures, was later followed by a successful launch of Artemis I in November 2022, which was the first integrated test of NASA’s deep space exploration system.

NASA/Joel Kowsky

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Overview

The Moon is a cornerstone 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.

The Moon’s surface is shown in an array of hues covering all the colors in the rainbow. An elevation color bar is on the right with the colors beginning in the white at 10,760 meters and ends in the blue at negative 9,150 meters. Most of the lunar map is a bright orange and yellow, while at the south pole blue and purple dominate that area. The green hues are peaking through the orange to show places of lower elevation.

NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) team released this topographical image of the Moon’s surface which was achieved by using the LRO Wide Angle Camera (WAC) and the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA). The pixel scale is about 100 meters which means a single measure of elevation (one pixel) is about two football fields side-by-side. This map is a near-globe representation of the moon with an elevation color chart on the right measured in meters.

NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/DLR/Arizona State University

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Five PRISM selections have been awarded.

The image is of a large geological feature on the lunar surface. The majority of the image is dark grey and appearing to show a relatively flat expanse. A few small craters are scattered throughout and one large one on the far right. In the center-left of the image, Reiner Gamma appears as a light-colored oval with wispy, white edges like a cloud. Additional scattered streaks of white extend up and to the right of the swirl. Along the bottom of the image is a scale indicating that the main part of the swirl

Pictured is the Lunar Swirl Reiner Gamma, a geological feature on the surface of the moon. This photo was taken by LRO. The feature is a bright patch amid the otherwise dark Oceanus Procellarum mare on the near side of the Moon.

NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University

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