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# Moon Monday #155: Prepping for PRIME-1 time, a Canadian capcom, a FLEXible rover, and more
- URL: https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-155/
- Published: 2023-11-27T15:15:41.000Z
- Updated: 2024-02-21T09:14:48.000Z
- Author: Jatan Mehta
- Tags: Moon Monday, US Artemis

*This is a half-yearly appreciation note, and an introduction for readers subscribed after April, that my [Moon Monday](https://blog.jatan.space/s/moon-monday/archive) newsletter is being supported by sponsor [Epsilon3](https://www.epsilon3.io/)—for the third year in a row! Led by [Laura](https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauracrabtree) and [Max](https://www.linkedin.com/in/maxmednik), Epsilon3 is a web-based platform to manage, streamline, and reduce risk in complex spacecraft building, testing, and operational procedures. It’s used by Astrobotic, Firefly, Astrolab, and more organizations creating for the Moon and beyond.* 🌙

*If you too enjoy and appreciate my work to serve space communities worldwide, kindly consider sponsoring Moon Monday—my flagship writing—via your organization:*

[Email me: hey@jatan.space](mailto:hey@jatan.space)

## First mission to drill on the Moon’s south pole is prepping for prime time

While Intuitive Machines prepares to launch [its first Moon lander](https://www.intuitivemachines.com/im-1) on [January 12, 2024](https://www.intuitivemachines.com/post/intuitive-machines-sets-january-2024-for-historic-u-s-lunar-mission), carrying [six science & technology payloads](https://www.nasa.gov/feature/first-commercial-moon-delivery-assignments-to-advance-artemis) for NASA’s [CLPS program](https://jatan.space/nasa-clps-moon-missions/), progress on the company’s [second CLPS lander](https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-selects-intuitive-machines-to-land-water-measuring-payload-on-the-moon) is continuing too. Launching sometime in 2024 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, said lander aims to deliver the NASA-funded, Honeybee-Robotics-provided [TRIDENT drill](https://www.nasa.gov/polar-resources-ice-mining-experiment-1) at an [optimum location](https://www.nasa.gov/missions/artemis/clps/nasa-intuitive-machines-announce-landing-site-location-for-lunar-drill) on the Moon’s south pole where underground [water ice](https://jatan.space/ultimate-guide-to-water-on-the-moon/) is expected based on orbital data. The lander will drill up to 1 meter below the surface, and analyze the excavated material for water ice and other such volatiles using the [MSolo](https://science.nasa.gov/mission/viper/rover-and-instruments#MSolo) mass spectrometer—a first such study.

![](https://jatan.space/content/images/2024/02/https-3a-2f-2fsubstack-post-media-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2f1a2ff563-d787-4898-b945-4944a331c7c8_2550x1600-jpeg.jpg)

Components of the Honeybee Robotics provided TRIDENT drill. [Image: NASA Langley](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKHrRvhAQgY)

To that end, teams of engineers from across these mission elements have [started testing hardware operations](https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/prime-1-simulation) on Earth to simulate aspects of the mission. The aim is to ensure that the project’s key goals are achieved within the limited mission time period of \~10 Earth days. After all, it’s not just the science output from this mission but also the operational knowhow which will feed forward into NASA’s upcoming long-duration [VIPER rover](https://jatan.space/nasa-viper-mission/) mission, which is launching mid-decade to study lunar polar water ice with a variant of the TRIDENT drill and the MSolo mass spectrometer.

Let’s circle back to Intuitive Machines’ second CLPS lander, which also has a rover and a hopper in store for us.

The lander will deploy Lunar Outpost’s [MAPP rover](https://lunaroutpost.com/nokia-and-intuitive-machines-select-lunar-outpost-for-first-rover-mission-at-lunar-south-pole) on the Moon’s surface. It will sport a [near-field depth camera](https://www.media.mit.edu/projects/microsoft-azure-kinect-for-a-lunar-environment/overview) to reconstruct the surface for future astronaut training in virtual reality, deploy a [miniature swarm robot](https://www.tothemoon.mit.edu/astroant) to take surface temperature measurements and also inspect the rover’s physical health, and host a [silicon chip](https://www.tothemoon.mit.edu/humans) hosting reflections of people in native languages. Notably, MAPP will collect some lunar soil and [transfer its ownership](https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-selects-companies-to-collect-lunar-resources-for-artemis-demonstrations) to NASA as part of the latter’s move to set precedence for future resource use under the US-led [Artemis Accords](https://www.nasa.gov/specials/artemis-accords/index.html). In another first, the MAPP rover will also host antennae from Nokia to test a [4G/LTE network](https://www.nokia.com/networks/insights/network-on-the-moon) on the Moon for NASA, for which Nokia [got an experimental spectrum certification](https://www.bell-labs.com/institute/blog/who-controls-the-airwaves-on-the-moon) last year. The aim is to see how we might get high-throughput, long-range, and low-latency communications necessary for having a sustainable lunar presence in the future.

![](https://jatan.space/content/images/2024/02/https-3a-2f-2fsubstack-post-media-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2f3eb9053d-605c-4e1b-936e-d02b07759999_750x500-jpeg.jpg)

Illustration showing Lunar Outpost’s rover on the Moon with deployed antennae for 4G/LTE network testing. [Image: Nokia / Lunar Outpost](https://www.bell-labs.com/institute/blog/a-network-like-no-other-how-nokias-moon-network-differs-from-any-on-earth)

The Intuitive lander will also deploy the company’s own [NASA-supported, $41 million](https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/solicitations/tipping%5Fpoints/2020%5Fselections) hopper called [Micro-Nova](https://www.intuitivemachines.com/post/intuitive-machines-and-nasa-finalize-contract-for-extreme-lunar-mobility-spacecraft), which aims to [hop five times](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-134/) to capture high-resolution imagery and other measurements of the surface under its flight path. One of the hops would be over a [permanently shadowed region](https://jatan.space/permanently-shadowed-regions-on-the-moon/) to detect and study potential water ice in there. Trent Martin from the company said at the [European Lunar Symposium](https://sservi.nasa.gov/els2023) in June that the hopper—which sports two Canadensys high-resolution imagers—is now enhanced with a neutron spectrometer for subsurface hydrogen detection (as indirect signs of [water ice](https://jatan.space/ultimate-guide-to-water-on-the-moon/)), a radiometer for surface temperature measurements, and a Nokia 4G antenna.

![](https://jatan.space/content/images/2024/02/https-3a-2f-2fsubstack-post-media-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2ff0ab71bf-0957-46e5-8d45-ff50d6c72646_2500x1418-jpeg.jpg)

Mission plan for the 5 lunar hops to be performed by Intuitive Machine’s Micro-Nova craft (shown in the inset image) during its inaugural mission. The hops start from where Nova-C, the lander, is marked in the image, and end with going in and out of a permanently shadowed region. Image: Trent Martin / Intuitive Machines

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*Many thanks to *[Epsilon3](https://www.epsilon3.io)*, *[Louis-Jérôme Burtz](https://www.linkedin.com/in/ljburtz)* and *[Arun Raghavan](https://arunraghavan.net)* for sponsoring this week’s Moon Monday!*

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## More mission updates

![](https://jatan.space/content/images/2024/02/https-3a-2f-2fsubstack-post-media-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2f2f8db90b-01a4-4375-a9b6-b257e111f096_1200x800-jpeg.jpg)

Jenni Gibbons at the launch of fellow Canadian astronaut David Saint-Jacques. [Image: CSA / ASC](https://www.cbc.ca/radio/quirks/how-fire-scientist-jenni-sidey-gibbons-became-canada-s-youngest-astronaut-1.5446314)

- CSA [announced](https://www.asc-csa.gc.ca/eng/news/articles/2023/2023-11-22-astronaut-jenni-gibbons-designated-canadian-backup-artemis-ii.asp) on November 22 that astronaut [Jenni Gibbons](https://www.asc-csa.gc.ca/eng/astronauts/canadian/active/bio-jenni-gibbons.asp) will be Canada’s backup of Mission Specialist [Jeremy Hansen](https://www.asc-csa.gc.ca/eng/astronauts/canadian/active/bio-jeremy-hansen.asp) for NASA’s [Artemis II mission](https://www.asc-csa.gc.ca/eng/missions/artemis-ii/mission.asp), wherein a total of [four astronauts](https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-names-astronauts-to-next-moon-mission-first-crew-under-artemis) will fly around the Moon and back circa early 2025\. Hansen is flying in return for CSA contributing the [Canadarm3](https://asc-csa.gc.ca/eng/canadarm3/about.asp) robotic servicing system to the [Gateway](https://www.nasa.gov/gateway), which is an upcoming NASA-led international crewed lunar orbital station. Gibbons will also help with astronaut training for upcoming Artemis missions, including the crewed [Artemis III](https://www.nasa.gov/feature/artemis-iii) landing. In fact, Gibbons will also be a [lunar capcom](https://www.asc-csa.gc.ca/eng/astronauts/about-the-job/capcom.asp), whose job is to be an efficient communications bridge between mission control and in-flight astronauts.
- Astrolab will have at least eight payloads worth $160 million aboard its first lunar rover targeting a 2026 launch, Jeff Foust [reports](https://spacenews.com/astrolab-announces-first-customers-for-commercial-lunar-rover-mission). The large rover, called [Flexible Logistics and Exploration](https://astrolab.space/flex) (FLEX), will be deployed on the Moon’s south pole [by a SpaceX Starship](https://astrolab.space/news/blog/145) launch & landing system. A notable payload comes from Interstellar Lab, which will attempt to grow plants in pods on the surface—similar to China’s [Chang’e 4 biological experiment](https://www.universetoday.com/163831/china-set-up-a-tiny-farm-on-the-moon-in-2019-how-did-it-do/#more-163831). (Also see: [Plants grow in lunar soil, but barely like it](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-77/)). The mission is intriguing because it has essentially the same rover design that Astrolab pitched to NASA earlier this year for the agency’s request to fund a versatile [Lunar Terrain Vehicle](https://jatan.space/what-we-know-about-artemis-ltv/), which will be used across Artemis missions starting [Artemis V](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-128/) for at least 10 years. Astrolab has [been testing](https://astrolab.space/news/blog/1) FLEX’s [fully-functional terrestrial prototype](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfT6HIc9OPw) for mobility, crewed, and remote operations, including a variety of large payload deployments. Tangent: NASA is [working with](https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-selects-12-companies-to-collaborate-on-key-technology-development) Astrolab to build and demonstrate a durable tire for future lunar rovers that can better tolerate the extremely cold temperatures of [permanently shadowed regions](https://jatan.space/permanently-shadowed-regions-on-the-moon/) on the Moon’s poles. This should allow much better mobility as well as flexibility in mission planning and operations.

## More Moon

- On November 14, UAE’s University of Sharjah [joined](https://web.archive.org/web/20231121233230/https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/nyNxhVwz6uHdVjNaapq06g) the upcoming China-led long-term [scientific base](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-120/) on the Moon’s south pole called the [International Lunar Research Station](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-32/). This agreement comes shortly after many countries joined the project recently, including [Pakistan](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-150/), [Thailand](https://www.narit.or.th/index.php/en-news/3552-en20231005-01), and [South Africa](https://www.cnsa.gov.cn/n6758823/n6758840/c10370666/content.html). Andrew Jones [lists](https://spacenews.com/emirati-university-signs-up-to-chinas-moon-base-project) all ILRS partners.
- Andrew Parsonson [reports](https://europeanspaceflight.com/asi-awards-contract-to-continue-development-of-moon-base) that following a [June 2022 agreement](https://www.asi.it/en/2022/06/artemis-mission-signed-agreement-between-asi-and-nasa) between the Italian Space Agency (ASI) and NASA to conduct a preliminary design study of a multipurpose surface habitation module for [Artemis Basecamp](https://www.nasa.gov/feature/nasa-outlines-lunar-surface-sustainability-concept), ASI has contracted Thales Alenia Space to continue its development.
- The Russian Academy of Sciences started a [year-long analog astronaut mission](https://www.space.com/russia-sirius-23-astronaut-isolation-study) on Earth to study isolation effects on humans who will live for extended periods on the Moon in the future.

![](https://jatan.space/content/images/2024/02/https-3a-2f-2fsubstack-post-media-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2fc3a382e2-9ee5-4c3e-b4dc-9f1f7f2a54bb_1920x1080-jpeg.jpg)

It was great co-leading a diverse working group with [Shoaib Sheriff](https://www.linkedin.com/in/shoaib-sheriff) at the [Asia-Pacific Space Generation Workshop](https://spacegeneration.org/9th-ap-sgw-2023/working-groups), with members from India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Thailand. We came up with plausible new ways in which Asia-Pacific countries can collaborate to explore our Moon and improve outreach. 🌏🚀🌗

## Job listings

- The Extraterrestrial Materials Analysis Group ([ExMAG](https://www.lpi.usra.edu/exmag)) is [seeking two members](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdYPi8BQ4Gsig-F6S3KKQPjzdoKE1nwOM9aPvGDMCoSNSw91g/viewform) for its [Lunar Subcommittee](https://www.lpi.usra.edu/exmag/subcommittees/#lunar) who have a keen interest in aiding NASA’s Artemis missions with work on sampling tools, handling of cold samples, resource characterization and extraction, and more. Tangent: NASA is working to store pristine samples astronauts will collect from some of the Moon’s [permanently shadowed regions](https://jatan.space/permanently-shadowed-regions-on-the-moon/) in cryogenic freezers starting with Artemis VI. Earlier Artemis surface missions will still collect such samples—they just won’t come to Earth as frigid as they’ve existed.
- The venerable Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter team is [looking for a Research Analyst Assistant](https://sjobs.brassring.com/TGnewUI/Search/home/HomeWithPreLoad?partnerid=25620&siteid=5494&PageType=JobDetails&jobid=4850598) to support the imager’s science operations with generating of data products, mapping, data analysis, and more.

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