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By NASA
6 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
With one of its solar arrays deployed, NASA’s Lunar Trailblazer sits in a clean room at Lockheed Martin Space. The large silver grate attached to the spacecraft is the radiator for HVM³, one of two instruments that the mission will use to better understand the lunar water cycle.Lockheed Martin Space There’s water on the Moon, but scientists only have a general idea of where it is and what form it is in. A trailblazing NASA mission will get some answers.
When NASA’s Lunar Trailblazer begins orbiting the Moon next year, it will help resolve an enduring mystery: Where is the Moon’s water? Scientists have seen signs suggesting it exists even where temperatures soar on the lunar surface, and there’s good reason to believe it can be found as surface ice in permanently shadowed craters, places that have not seen direct sunlight for billions of years. But, so far, there have been few definitive answers, and a full understanding of the nature of the Moon’s water cycle remains stubbornly out of reach.
This is where Lunar Trailblazer comes in. Managed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and led by Caltech in Pasadena, California, the small satellite will map the Moon’s surface water in unprecedented detail to determine the water’s abundance, location, form, and how it changes over time.
“Making high-resolution measurements of the type and amount of lunar water will help us understand the lunar water cycle, and it will provide clues to other questions, like how and when did Earth get its water,” said Bethany Ehlmann, principal investigator for Lunar Trailblazer at Caltech. “But understanding the inventory of lunar water is also important if we are to establish a sustained human and robotic presence on the Moon and beyond.”
Future explorers could process lunar ice to create breathable oxygen or even fuel. And they could also conduct science. Using information from Lunar Trailblazer, future human or robotic scientific investigations could sample the ice for later study to determine where the water came from. For example, the presence of ammonia in ice samples may indicate the water came from comets; sulfur, on the other hand, could show that it was vented to the surface from the lunar interior when the Moon was young and volcanically active.
This artist’s concept depicts NASA’s Lunar Trailblazer in lunar orbit about 60 miles (100 kilometers) from the surface of the Moon. The spacecraft weighs only 440 pounds (200 kilograms) and measures 11.5 feet (3.5 meters) wide when its solar panels are fully deployed.Lockheed Martin Space “In the future, scientists could analyze the ice in the interiors of permanently shadowed craters to learn more about the origins of water on the Moon,” said Rachel Klima, Lunar Trailblazer deputy principal investigator at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland. “Like an ice core from a glacier on Earth can reveal the ancient history of our planet’s atmospheric composition, this pristine lunar ice could provide clues as to where that water came from and how and when it got there.”
Understanding whether water molecules move freely across the surface of the Moon or are locked inside rock is also scientifically important. Water molecules could move from frosty “cold traps” to other locations throughout the lunar day. Frost heated by the Sun sublimates (turning from solid ice to a gas without going through a liquid phase), allowing the molecules to move as a gas to other cold locations, where they could form new frost as the Sun moves overhead. Knowing how water moves on the Moon could also lead to new insights into the water cycles on other airless bodies, such as asteroids
Two Instruments, One Mission
Two science instruments aboard the spacecraft will help unlock these secrets: the High-resolution Volatiles and Minerals Moon Mapper (HVM3) infrared spectrometer and the Lunar Thermal Mapper (LTM) infrared multispectral imager.
Developed by JPL, HVM3 will detect and map the spectral fingerprints, or wavelengths of reflected sunlight, of minerals and the different forms of water on the lunar surface. The spectrometer can use faint reflected light from the walls of craters to see the floor of even permanently shadowed craters.
The LTM instrument, which was built by the University of Oxford and funded by the UK Space Agency, will map the minerals and thermal properties of the same lunar landscape. Together they will create a picture of the abundance, location, and form of water while also tracking how its distribution changes over time.
“The LTM instrument precisely maps the surface temperature of the Moon while the HVM3 instrument looks for the spectral signature of water molecules,” said Neil Bowles, instrument scientist for LTM at the University of Oxford. “Both instruments will allow us to understand how surface temperature affects water, improving our knowledge of the presence and distribution of these molecules on the Moon.”
Weighing only 440 pounds (200 kilograms) and measuring 11.5 feet (3.5 meters) wide when its solar panels are fully deployed, Lunar Trailblazer will orbit the Moon about 60 miles (100 kilometers) from the surface. The mission was selected by NASA’s SIMPLEx (Small Innovative Missions for Planetary Exploration) program in 2019 and will hitch a ride on the same launch as the Intuitive Machines-2 delivery to the Moon through NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative. Lunar Trailblazer passed a critical operational readiness review in early October at Caltech after completing environmental testing in August at Lockheed Martin Space in Littleton, Colorado, where it was assembled.
The orbiter and its science instruments are now being put through flight system software tests that simulate key aspects of launch, maneuvers, and the science mission while in orbit around the Moon. At the same time, the operations team led by IPAC at Caltech is conducting tests to simulate commanding, communication with NASA’s Deep Space Network, and navigation.
More About Lunar Trailblazer
Lunar Trailblazer is managed by JPL, and its science investigation and mission operations are led by Caltech with the mission operations center at IPAC. Managed for NASA by Caltech, JPL also provides system engineering, mission assurance, the HVM3 instrument, as well as mission design and navigation. Lockheed Martin Space provides the spacecraft, integrates the flight system, and supports operations under contract with Caltech.
SIMPLEx mission investigations are managed by the Planetary Missions Program Office at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, as part of the Discovery Program at NASA Headquarters in Washington. The program conducts space science investigations in the Planetary Science Division of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters.
For more information about Lunar Trailblazer, visit:
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/lunar-trailblazer
News Media Contacts
Karen Fox / Molly Wasser
NASA Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
karen.c.fox@nasa.gov / molly.l.wasser@nasa.gov
Ian J. O’Neill
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-354-2649
ian.j.oneill@jpl.nasa.gov
Gordon Squires
IPAC, Pasadena, Calif.
626-395-3121
squires@ipac.caltech.edu
2024-148
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Last Updated Oct 29, 2024 Related Terms
Lunar Trailblazer Earth's Moon Moons Planetary Science Planetary Science Division Science Mission Directorate Explore More
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By NASA
Due to launch in the early 2030s, NASA’s DAVINCI mission will investigate whether Venus — a sweltering world wrapped in an atmosphere of noxious gases — once had oceans and continents like Earth.
Consisting of a flyby spacecraft and descent probe, DAVINCI will focus on a mountainous region called Alpha Regio, a possible ancient continent. Though a handful of international spacecraft plunged through Venus’ atmosphere between 1970 and 1985, DAVINCI’s probe will be the first to capture images of this intriguing terrain ever taken from below Venus’ thick and opaque clouds.
But how does a team prepare for a mission to a planet that hasn’t seen an atmospheric probe in nearly 50 years, and that tends to crush or melt its spacecraft visitors?
Scientists leading the DAVINCI mission started by using modern data-analysis techniques to pore over decades-old data from previous Venus missions. Their goal is to arrive at our neighboring planet with as much detail as possible. This will allow scientists to most effectively use the probe’s descent time to collect new information that can help answer longstanding questions about Venus’ evolutionary path and why it diverged drastically from Earth’s.
On the left, a new and more detailed view of Venus’ Alpha Regio region developed by scientists on NASA’s DAVINCI mission to Venus, due to launch in the early 2030s. On the right is a less detailed map created using radar altimeter data collected by NASA’s Magellan spacecraft in the early 1990s. The colors on the maps depict topography, with dark blues identifying low elevations and browns identifying high elevations. To make the map on the left, the DAVINCI science team re-analyzed Magellan data and supplemented it with radar data collected on three occasions from the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico, and used machine vision computer models to scrutinize the data and fill in gaps in information. The red ellipses on each image mark the area DAVINCI’s probe will descend over as it collects data on its way toward the surface. Jim Garvin/NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Between 1990 and 1994, NASA’s Magellan spacecraft used radar imaging and altimetry to map the topography of Alpha Regio from Venus’ orbit. Recently, NASA’s DAVINICI’s team sought more detail from these maps, so scientists applied new techniques to analyze Magellan’s radar altimeter data. They then supplemented this data with radar images taken on three occasions from the former Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico and used machine vision computer models to scrutinize the data and fill in gaps in information at new scales (less than 0.6 miles, or 1 kilometer).
As a result, scientists improved the resolution of Alpha Regio maps tenfold, predicting new geologic patterns on the surface and prompting questions about how these patterns could have formed in Alpha Regio’s mountains.
Benefits of Looking Backward
Old data offers many benefits to new missions, including information about what frequencies, parts of spectrum, or particle sizes earlier instruments covered so that new instruments can fill in the gaps.
At NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive, which is managed out of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, staff restore and digitize data from old spacecraft. That vintage data, when compared with modern observations, can show how a planet changes over time, and can even lead to new discoveries long after missions end. Thanks to new looks at Magellan observations, for instance, scientists recently found evidence of modern-day volcanic activity on Venus.
The three images in this carousel were taken in March 2024 at NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. The first shows stacked boxes of microfilm with data from Apollo missions. The middle image shows miniaturized records from NASA’s 1964 Mariner 4 flyby mission to Mars. And the final image shows a view of Jupiter from NASA’s Pioneer 10 flyby mission to the outer planets, which launched on March 2, 1972. The three images in this carousel were taken in March 2024 at NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. The first shows stacked boxes of microfilm with data from Apollo missions. The middle image shows miniaturized records from NASA’s 1964 Mariner 4 flyby mission to Mars. And the final image shows a view of Jupiter from NASA’s Pioneer 10 flyby mission to the outer planets, which launched on March 2, 1972. The three images in this carousel were taken in March 2024 at NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. The first shows stacked boxes of microfilm with data from Apollo missions. The middle image shows miniaturized records from NASA’s 1964 Mariner 4 flyby mission to Mars. And the final image shows a view of Jupiter from NASA’s Pioneer 10 flyby mission to the outer planets, which launched on March 2, 1972.
Magellan was among the first missions to be digitally archived in NASA’s publicly accessible online repository of planetary mission data. But the agency has reams of data — much of it not yet digitized — dating back to 1958, when the U.S. launched its first satellite, Explorer 1.
Data restoration is a complex and resource-intensive job, and NASA prioritizes digitizing data that scientists need. With three forthcoming missions to Venus — NASA’s DAVINCI and VERITAS, plus ESA’s (European Space Agency) Envision — space data archive staff are helping scientists access data from Pioneer Venus, NASA’s last mission to drop probes into Venus’ atmosphere in 1978.
Mosaic of Venus
Alpha Regio is one of the most mysterious spots on Venus. Its terrain, known as “tessera,” is similar in appearance to rugged Earth mountains, but more irregular and disorderly.
So called because they resemble a geometric parquet floor pattern, tesserae have been found only on Venus, and DAVINCI will be the first mission to explore such terrain in detail and to map its topography.
DAVINCI’s probe will begin photographing Alpha Regio — collecting the highest-resolution images yet — once it descends below the planet’s clouds, starting at about 25 miles, or 40 kilometers, altitude. But even there, gases in the atmosphere scatter light, as does the surface, such that these images will appear blurred.
Could Venus once have been a habitable world with liquid water oceans — like Earth? This is one of the many mysteries associated with our shrouded sister world. Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center DAVINCI scientists are working on a solution. Recently, scientists re-analyzed old Venus imaging data using a new artificial-intelligence technique that can sharpen the images and use them to compute three-dimensional topographic maps. This technique ultimately will help the team optimize DAVINCI’s images and maps of Alpha Regio’s mountains. The upgraded images will give scientists the most detailed view ever — down to a resolution of 3 feet, or nearly 1 meter, per pixel — possibly allowing them to detect small features such as rocks, rivers, and gullies for the first time in history.
“All this old mission data is part of a mosaic that tells the story of Venus,” said Jim Garvin, DAVINCI principal investigator and chief scientist at NASA Goddard. “A story that is a masterpiece in the making but incomplete.”
By analyzing the surface texture and rock types at Alpha Regio, scientists hope to determine if Venusian tesserae formed through the same processes that create mountains and certain volcanoes on Earth.
By Lonnie Shekhtman
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
Get to know Venus
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Last Updated Oct 17, 2024 Editor Lonnie Shekhtman Contact Lonnie Shekhtman lonnie.shekhtman@nasa.gov Location Goddard Space Flight Center Related Terms
DAVINCI (Deep Atmosphere Venus Investigation of Noble gases, Chemistry, and Imaging) Pioneer Venus Planetary Science Planetary Science Division Planets Science & Research Science Mission Directorate The Solar System Venus VERITAS (Venus Emissivity, Radio Science, InSAR, Topography & Spectroscopy) View the full article
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By USH
The Colares UFO incidents refer to a series of unusual sightings and encounters that took place in 1977 on the Brazilian island of Colares. During this period, numerous residents from the Amazon River community of Colares reported being attacked by UFOs.
These mysterious objects allegedly descended from the sky, and in some cases, emerged from the water, emitting intense beams of light. The beams caused physical harm, including burn marks, puncture wounds, fatigue, and memory loss, affecting as many as 2,000 people.
In response to the alarming situation, the Brazilian Air Force initiated a thorough investigation. Years later, their findings were made public, revealing details of this bizarre chapter in UFO history.
Weaponized hosts Jeremy and George speak with Thiago Ticchetti, Brazil's leading UFO investigator and author, to discuss the Colares case and the once-classified military files.
According to Thiago, the Brazilian military captured remarkably clear film footage and photographs of the UFOs. However, he claims that this evidence was sent to the U.S. and has never been released to the public.
In this episode, they also explores various conspiracy theories and recent debunking efforts surrounding the topic of unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP).
The discussion on the Colares UFO incidents begins at the 37-minute mark in the video.
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By Space Force
History was made on Aug. 16, as six Space Force students out of basic military training became the first Guardians to graduate technical training at the U.S. Air Force Honor Guard at Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling.
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