Conducting Subsurface Surveys for Water Ice using Ground Penetrating Radar and a Neutron Spectrometer on the Lunar Electric Rover Never Stop

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1 Conducting Subsurface Surveys for Water Ice using Ground Penetrating Radar and a Neutron Spectrometer on the Lunar Electric Rover LPI/Kring Never Stop Exploring David A. Kring Lunar and Planetary Institute Lunar Exploration Analysis Group 11 October 2017 Art by Daniel D. Durda Art by Daniel D. Durda NASA

2 David A. Kring Roadmap for Human Exploration Outlines a plan that extends human exploration beyond low- Earth orbit (LEO) Includes multiple destinations (the Moon, asteroids, and eventually Mars) Develops a mission scenario with Precursor lunar robotic explorers, a Human-assisted lunar sample return mission, and Human lunar sample return missions.

3 David A. Kring EXPLORATION IN PARALLEL WITH ORION & SLS VEHICLE DEVELOPMENT Detail of illustration from the GER (2013) with small modifications. Because the human missions could involve NASA s Orion vehicle and ESA s service module, notional Exploration Mission numbers have been added.

4 Deep Space Gateway NASA The components of ISECG Design Reference Mission (DRM) as outlined by Hufenbach et al. (IAC, 2015) NASA s Orion crew vehicle, with ESA s service module, transports crew to/from a Deep Space Gateway The Gateway is in the vicinity of the Moon, such as a halo orbit about the Earth-Moon L2 point above the lunar farside

5 The components of ISECG Design Reference Mission (DRM) (continued) Two small pressurized rovers (SPRs) for crew to explore the lunar surface; e.g., the Lunar Electric Rover (LER) A crew lander with an expendable descent stage and reusable ascent stage NASA NASA Generation I vehicle built & field tested Generation II vehicle is designed Once the Gen II vehicle has been tested, vehicles for flight can be built Notional No design for crew lander yet exists

6 Distribution of Landing Sites Nearside: Malapert Massif South Polar Region: South Pole (Shackleton ) Farside: Schrödinger Basin Antoniadi South Pole-Aitken Basin Center WAC mosaic with 100 m/px resolution

7 Traverse Studies LER traverse studies between landing sites and at each landing site have been conducted and reported in preliminary form: Kamps et al. (LPSC 2017) Ende et al. (LPSC 2017) Orgel et al. (ELS 2017) Mazrouei et al. (ELS 2017) WAC mosaic with 100 m/px resolution

8 Traverse: Malapert Massif to Shackleton Traverse limit: 933km Efficient traverse: 208 km Science traverse: 911 km Science: Volatiles in Cabeus Malapert Massif Cabeus Drygalski Shackleton Impact melt in Drygalski and Ashbrook s Structure of complex craters Ashbrook LOLA 100 m/px slope map over hillshade

9 ADDRESSING SCIENCE & EXPLORATION OBJECTIVES EN ROUTE Heggy & Kring installed a GPR in the frame of the LER. An initial test was conducted at Moses Lake (2008), where the GPR successfully detected subsurface water. GPR The GPR was also deployed during a 14-day-long simulation at Black Point (2009) and remained functional throughout a traverse in challenging terrain.

10 ADDRESSING SCIENCE & EXPLORATION OBJECTIVES EN ROUTE Exploration of lunar subsurface structure using GPR can investigate: thickness and layer structure in lunar regolith geological structure in the shallow lunar crust Chang e-3 s Lunar Penetrating Radar aboard the Yutu rover illustrated the potential of a GPR, providing significant data on the subsurface Fa et al. (2015)

11 ADDRESSING SCIENCE & EXPLORATION OBJECTIVES EN ROUTE Exploration of lunar subsurface structure using GPR can investigate: thickness and layer structure in lunar regolith geological structure in the shallow lunar crust Thus, an LER tele-operated in survey mode may be able to detect and map the distribution of recoverable deposits of volatiles Fa et al. (2015)

12 ADDRESSING SCIENCE & EXPLORATION OBJECTIVES EN ROUTE Neutron Spectrometer To enhance the survey for subsurface volatiles, a neutron spectrometer, like the one Rick Elphic produced for the Resource Prospector rover (left), could be installed too. For good signal-to-noise, LER speed would need to be 10 cm/s, but there is plenty of margin in the traverse schedule to allow that relatively slow speed.

13 Traverse: Shackleton to Schrödinger Basin Amundsen Shackleton Traverse limit: 938 km Efficient traverse: 734 km Science traverse: 923 km Science: Volatile distribution and structures in complex crater in Amundsen Geological contacts around the South Pole Stratigraphy in Schrödinger Basin wall Schrödinger Basin LOLA 100 m/px slope map over hillshade

14 Traverse: Shackleton to Schrödinger Basin Amundsen Shackleton Schrödinger Basin Within Amundsen GPR & NS survey of volatiles en route Kamps et al. (LPSC 2017)

15 Traverse: Shackleton to Schrödinger Basin Amundsen Shackleton Schrödinger Basin Within Amundsen GPR & NS survey of volatiles en route Kamps et al. (LPSC 2017)

16 Traverse: Shackleton to Schrödinger Basin Amundsen Shackleton Schrödinger Basin Within Amundsen GPR & NS survey of volatiles en route Kamps et al. (LPSC 2017)

17 Summary The LER component of the ISECG design reference mission is a mature concept A Generation I vehicle has been tested in the field in a series of 3-day, 14-day, and 28-day mission simulations Tests include >1152 hours of astronaut time in the vehicle and 2832 hours of total crew time in highfidelity simulations. Traverse studies (Kamps et al., 2017; Orgel et al., 2017) indicate routes between the 5 sites in the ISECG DRM are feasible in this vehicle. Moreover, the tele-operated phases are excellent opportunities to survey for subsurface volatiles.