The space agency announced a rover will visit the Gruithuisen Domes, a geological feature that has long baffled scientists.
These domes are suspected to have been formed by a sticky magma rich in silica, similar in composition to granite.
On Earth, however, formations like these need oceans of liquid water and plate tectonics to form, but without these key ingredients on the moon, lunar scientists have been left to wonder how they formed and evolved over time.
The Lunar Vulkan Imaging and Spectroscopy Explorer (Lunar-VISE) investigation, slated for 2025, will consist of a suite of five instruments, two of which will be mounted on a stationary lander and three mounted on a mobile rover to be provided as a service by a Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative vendor.
Over the course of ten Earth days (one lunar day), the Lunar-VISE will explore the summit of one of the Gruithuisen Domes.
By analysing the lunar regolith at the top of one of these domes, the data collected and returned by Lunar-VISE’s instruments will help scientists answer fundamental open questions regarding how these formations came to be.
Announced on June 2, as part of a ‘Priority Artemis Science’ mission, the data also will help inform future robotic and human missions to the moon.
Nasa’s Caroline Capone said: ‘We’ve got a lunar mystery on our hands! The Gruithuisen Domes are a geologic enigma.
‘Based on early telescopic and spacecraft observations, these domes have long been suspected to be formed by a magma rich in silica, similar in composition to granite. The real mystery is how such silicic magmas could form on the moon.
‘In order to truly understand these puzzling features, we need to visit the domes, explore them from the ground, and analyse rock samples. Luckily, Nasa is planning to do just that!
‘Hopefully, in just a couple of years we will better understand this lunar mystery!’
Adding to the growing list of commercial deliveries slated to explore more of the moon than ever before under Artemis, Nasa has also selected a second investigation: The Lunar Explorer Instrument for space biology Applications (LEIA) science suite is a small CubeSat-based device.
LEIA will provide biological research on the moon – which cannot be simulated or replicated with high fidelity on the Earth or International Space Station – by delivering the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae to the lunar surface and studying its response to radiation and lunar gravity.
‘The two selected studies will address important scientific questions related to the moon’ said Joel Kearns, deputy associate administrator for exploration in Nasa’s Science Mission Directorate.
‘The first will study geologic processes of early planetary bodies that are preserved on the moon, by investigating a rare form of lunar volcanism. The second will study the effects of the moon’s low gravity and radiation environment on yeast, a model organism used to understand DNA damage response and repair.’
**Source
Wow, 3 posts, sorry. Top one is most recent.
Actually NASA did land there with the help of ETs. What threw it into doubt is that they made a tape or movie pretending to be on the Moon if the trip failed. To keep moral high during the cold War, and especially since Russia went into space first with a human, they were going to show this fake movie of a landing. The secret got out and half the world thinks we didn’t land there in ’69.
People who are especially sensitive know we landed on the moon. People who are good psychics know we’ve been traveling to the moon, Mars and other places for decades if not centuries with the help of ETs.
We’re going to find out a lot of crazy stuff the next 10 or 20 years.
I read somewhere, (was it at Era of Light?) That Bezos, owner of Amazon by %, wanted to escape Earth and headed for Mars. I don’t know if he made it but the ETs made him come back to Earth. I read a few times that we’re flying around in very high tech craft to other planets. If that were true, that would be a tough secret to keep under wraps. Unless we think they are UFOs.
There is so much fake news, even at the spiritual sites. They say to use discernment, don’t automatically believe anything. Sleep on it, meditate. Wait a few days before believing it, if that’s what intuition tells you.
Actually NASA did land there with the help of ETs. What threw it into doubt is that they made a tape or movie pretending to be on the Moon if the trip failed. To keep moral high during the cold War, and especially since Russia went into space first with a human, they were going to show this fake movie of a landing. The secret got out and half the world thinks we didn’t land there in ’69.
People who are especially sensitive know we landed on the moon. People who are good psychics know we’ve been traveling to the moon, Mars and other places for decades if not centuries with the help of ETs.
We’re going to find out a lot of crazy stuff the next 10 or 20 years.
I read somewhere, (was it at Era of Light?) That Besos, owner of Amazon, wanted to escape Earth and headed for Mars. I don’t know if he made it but the ETs made him come back to Earth. I read a few times that we’re flying around in very high tech craft to other planets. If that were true, that would be a tough secret to keep under wraps. Unless we think they are UFOs.
Actually NASA did land there with the help of ETs. What threw it into doubt is that they made a tape or movie pretending to be on the Moon if the trip failed. To keep moral high during the cold War, and especially since Russia went into space first with a human, they were going to show this fake movie of a landing. The secret got out and half the world thinks we didn’t land there in ’69.
People who are especially sensitive know we landed on the moon. People who are good psychics know we’ve been traveling to the moon, Mars and other places for decades if not centuries with the help of ETs.
We’re going to find out a lot of crazy stuff the next 10 or 20 years.
How do they plan to do that, with CG? NASA has never been to the moon. NASA is a multi-trillion-dollar scam. More misdirection.