The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)among its many projects to investigate space, has the Artemis program. The main objective of this is to bring back the human presence on the Moon in the present decade. To do this, it is first necessary to investigate the lunar surface more thoroughly, for which new tools will be used.
One of them will be Lunar Vulkan Imaging and Spectroscopy Explorar (Lunar-VISE), whose objective will be to explore the mysterious mounds of Gruithuisen. Its geological features draw the attention of expertssince they seem to have been formed by a silica-rich magmawhich has a composition similar to that of granite.
The intention is for a NASA rover to visit these domes which, on Earth, they require liquid water and tectonic plates to form. Without these ‘ingredients’ in the Earth satellite, scientists will try to discover how they formed and evolved over the years. The project is scheduled for the year 2025and will have five instruments in total: two will be attached to the lander and another three will be mounted on a mobile vehicle.
“Hopefully, in just a couple of years we will better understand this lunar mystery”, explains the space agency regarding the discovery of these mounds on the surface of the Moon. “There are few theories regarding the formation of silica-rich lunar magmas. To really understand these puzzling features, we must visit the domes, explore them from the ground and analyze rock samples”.
Analyze lunar biology
The other of the tools that the US agency will use responds to the name of Lunar Explorer for Space Biology Applications (LEIA), and with it it is intended to take the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae to the Moon, in order to study its response to radiation and lunar gravity.
This organism is used to understand the human biology in the areas of genetics, cell division processes and response to DNA damage to environmental factors. Thanks to him, the experts believe that they will be able to obtain an answer to doubts from decades ago regarding how the partial gravity and deep space radiation affects biological processes.
LEIA will be key to biological research on the Moon, something that cannot be simulated on Earth or on the International Space Station. “The two selected studies will address important scientific questions related to the moon,” explains Joel Kearns, deputy associate administrator for exploration in NASA’s Science Mission Directorate.
“The first will study the geological processes of the first planetary bodies preserved on the moon, investigating a rare form of lunar volcanism. The second will study the Effects of the low-gravity environment and moon radiation on yeast”, explains NASA in its statement. The data from both investigations will also help in future robotic and human missions within the framework of the Artemis program.
