In the quest to expand knowledge of our lunar neighbor, San Antonio's Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) has developed a scientific device soon to journey to the moon's surface aboard the Blue Ghost lander, a spacecraft assembled by Firefly Aerospace. According to the Express-News, this cutting-edge equipment, dubbed the Lunar Magnetotelluric Sounder (LMS), will measure the moon's electric and magnetic fields to shed light on the mysteries of its internal structure.
Outfitted with a slew of 10 scientific instruments, the Blue Ghost weigh in at 150-kilograms, and is expected to catch a ride on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral later this year. The device, resulting from San Antonian know-how, cost $4.8 million to develop and signifies a collaborative triumph between industry and science. In addition to this, Firefly Aerospace has secured over $230 million in NASA contracts for both the current and successive lunar missions slated for 2026, as stated on Firefly's website.
The journey of Firefly's Blue Ghost, particularly marked by the incorporation of San Antonio's instrumental innovation, will culminate in a one-way month-long trek to the Mare Crisium. Seated on the northern hemisphere of the moon, the knowledge of this area is limited. David Stillman, a project scientist working at SwRI's office in Boulder, told the Express-News, "One of the things we'd really like to figure out is how much water is in the (moon's) mantel." The insights gleaned from the LMS could propel further lunar exploration and potential site selection for future moon bases.
Despite the challenges faced by the teams at SwRI and Firefly Aerospace in the genesis stages of the device, the LMS is ready for deployment. With its unique electrodes nicknamed "yarn balls", the equipment will launch projectiles onto the lunar dirt to collect electrical data. Conveniently, scientists from SwRI will conduct vital data monitoring and collection remotely from their Boulder station. Stillman expressed optimism, predicting results to start trickling in as soon as two months post-landing. Targeting a 13-day window of lunar daylight, the Blue Ghost mission's duration is short yet expected to be intensely productive.
In parallel, SwRI is developing another set of instruments for a future NASA mission scheduled for a 2025 liftoff. This subsequent lunar venture will attempt to plumb the depths of the moon's Schrödinger basin on the far side, using both a pneumatic drill and electrodes - a testament to the ongoing commitment to uncover the moon's secrets. This series of missions serves as the groundwork for NASA's Artemis program, which aims to usher in a new era of manned lunar exploration within the next few years.
