The Lunar Environment Monitoring Station (LEMS) (LEMS)

Past missions have shown that the lunar exosphere is very sensitive to small changes that affect the plasma environment, the surface, or the interior of the Moon. Volatiles in the exosphere provide global tracers of changes in the lunar environment, and their driving processes (whether they are geophysical or manmade in nature). Though previous missions were successful at identifying short-term changes, they did not last long enough and/or did not have the capability to conduct long-term monitoring of the exosphere. Our proposal aims to mature the concept of a long duration surface station that monitors the lunar exosphere. This compact monitoring station will be designed to autonomously collect and relay measurements of changes in exospheric composition over a nominal 2 years period. These exospheric measurements will be acquired using a neutral mass spectrometer with a long heritage of flight implementation. Additionally, this autonomous station will accommodate a low power seismometer and provides the building blocks of a larger seismographic and geodesic network. This instrument development effort fully addresses the DALI Program objective of “spacecraft-based instruments that show promise for use in future lunar missions including expected commercial ventures”. Specifically, this proposal focuses on maturing the packaging of key three subsystems (from TRL 4 to 6), along with characterizing the instrument’s end-to-end performance and concept of operations using a high-fidelity prototype. When the proposed development is complete, the Lunar Environment Monitoring Station will be proposed for deployment on all relevant lunar landing missions (manned, robotic scientific missions, or commercial missions). More »