First Instruments Slated for Deployment on Lunar Surface by Artemis 3 Crew Announced
3 science payloads are approved to continue development targeting NET 2026 Artemis 3 human landing (final manifest will be fixed later): Lunar Environment Monitoring Station (LEMS), Lunar Effects on Agricultural Flora (LEAF), Lunar Dielectric Analyzer (LDA); Trio of instruments are intended to contribute to 3 of 7 objectives articulated in Artemis III Science Definition Team Report; LEMS (University of Maryland) seismometer to record MSP quakes; LEAF (Space Lab Technologies) will study germination and growth of Brassica rapa, Wolffia, Arabidopsis thaliana varieties; LDA (University of Tokyo) to measure regolith electrical fields / variance with temperature
CSA-ASC funding 5 companies to advance Lunar Surface Exploration Initiative with 7 studies (~US$200K/ea, $1.4M total) on agricultural science, avionics/comms, mining/ISRU, power; Canadensys (Bolton ON) to study lunar greenhouse, modular rover concepts; MDA (Brampton ON) to study nuclear power generation, autonomous robots / rovers; MPB Communications (Pointe-Claire QC) to study Earth-Moon optical comms, Canadian Space Mining Corporation (Toronto ON) to study lunar prospecting; Honeywell Ltd. of Canada (Ottawa ON) to study Moon surface / orbit communication network
Conducted by Institute Of Competition Sciences, NASA SSERVI and UCF Exolith Laboratory with support from SC, FL, MN, ID, VA, NM Space Grant Consortiums, Plant the Moon and Plant Mars Challenges looking forward to the technologies and practices needed to sustain human life off Earth; Lunar regolith simulant being shipped to students nationwide, mentored by Science Advisory Board including (L-R) Nanoracks Chief Innovation Officer Michael Lewis, Scientist Chris McKay, Exolith Lab Chief Scientist Zoe Landsman; Opening Symposium 22 Sep
Sustainable Moon settlement study centered around in-situ food production, also conducting research on long duration physiological and psychological human effects, to be launched by JAXA in partnership with Space Foodsphere, a Tokyo-based study group with wide industry membership including Euglena Co. (algae-based biofuels), NTT Data (information technology) and Ajinomoto Co. (food science); Facilities within Japan may begin construction March 2022, with Antarctic locations to follow and vision of transferring technology to terraformation of exoplanets circa 2100
