NASA will venture to the other side of the moon for the first time to send the first woman and the next man to the lunar surface in 2024.
American space agency announced On Thursday, three new scientific research payloads were selected that will land in the region to learn more about potential astronaut targets.
The other, or darker, side of the moon was only explored by China’s Chang’e 4 mission in 2019, and NASA wants to learn more before bringing human boots into the region.
The charge will investigate lunar eddies, seismic activity as well as heat flow and electrical conductivity from the interior of the Schrödinger Basin.
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NASA will venture to the other side of the moon for the first time to send the first woman and next man to the lunar surface in 2024
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The back of the moon remained untouched until two years ago, but China has only landed one vehicle in the region – no people.
If the mission is successful, NASA will be the first space agency to drop a person on the other side of the moon.
It plans to send at least two probes to the moon before the manned Artemis mission, with the first scheduled to begin this year – although it’s not clear when the new experiments will be sent.
One option, Lunar Vertex, is a combination lander and rover that should land on Reiner Gamma – one of the most distinctive and enigmatic natural features on the moon, known as the lunar vortex.
The other or darker side of the moon was only explored by China’s Chang’e 4 mission in 2019 and NASA wants to know more before placing human boots in the region (artist impression)
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Scientists don’t fully understand what lunar vortices are or how they form, but they do know that they are closely related to anomalies associated with the moon’s magnetic field.
The Lunar Vertex Rover uses an integrated magnetometer to make detailed surface measurements of the magnetic field.
Data on the lunar surface magnetic field collected by the rover will enhance data collected by spacecraft in orbit around the moon and help scientists better understand how these mysterious lunar vortexes formed and evolved, as well as further insight into the planet’s interior and core. month.
Another planned destination is the Schrödinger Basin, a crater 198 miles in diameter.
The Farside Seismic Suite will be delivered there, which will include two seismometers to collect NASA’s first seismic data from the other side of the moon.
The US space agency announced Thursday that it has selected three new scientific research payloads that will land in the region to learn more about potential astronaut targets.
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The charge will investigate lunar eddies, seismic activity as well as heat flow and electrical conductivity from the interior of the Schrödinger Basin
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This data is crucial for knowing how often this region is hit by small meteorites and for better understanding tectonic activity to better prepare humans on the moon.
The Lunar Interior Temperature and Materials Suite (LITMS), another payload leading to the Schrödinger Basin, consists of two instruments: the Lunar Instrumentation for Thermal Exploration with Rapidity pneumatic drill and the Lunar Magnetotelluric Sounder.
This payload suite will examine the heat flow and electrical conductivity of the lunar interior in the Schrödinger Basin and provide in-depth insight into the internal mechanical and heat flow of the moon.
The LITMS data will also complement seismic data collected by the FSS to provide a more complete picture of the near and deep subsurface of the far side of the moon.
“This study demonstrates the power of CLPS to deliver great science in a small package and provide access to the lunar surface to achieve high-level scientific goals for the moon,” said Lori Glaze, director of NASA’s Division of Planetary Sciences.
“When scientists analyze this new data, along with lunar samples returned by Apollo and data from many of our orbital missions, it will expand our knowledge of the lunar surface and lunar interior and enhance our understanding of key phenomena such as space weathering to inform missions.” manned future.” month and so on.’
The back of the moon – colloquially also called the dark side – actually receives as much light as the near side, but is always directed away from the earth.
This region was first observed in 1959 when the Soviet Luna 3 spacecraft returned the first images.
In 1968, astronauts on the Apollo 8 spacecraft were the first to see the other side directly as they orbited the moon.
And several missions by NASA and other space agencies have mapped the far side of the moon.
These include NASA’s Deep Impact spacecraft, which in 2008 imaged the opposite side from a distance of 31 million miles.
This relatively unexplored region is mountainous and rugged, making a successful landing much more difficult — but NASA hopes to be the first to field people in the region by 2024.
