Surface elements and landing strategies for small bodies missions – Philae and beyond

[1] Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) is an active analytical technique that makes use of a laser pulse to analyze materials of interest at a distance by creating a plasma, which emits photons at characteristic emission line wavelengths. We validate the technique for planetary exploration under vacuum conditions. We review the capability and advantages of the LIBS technique for lunar regolith analysis at 1.5 m distance from a lunar rover, and we characterize its potential for the detection of resources for future exploration, such as the determination of regolith water content. The limits of detection determined for the major elements (typically <1 wt %) help to determine regolith parent material such as feldspathic highland rocks, rocks from the ancient magmatic high magnesian suite (Mg-suite), Fe-rich mare basalts or potassium, rare earth element, and phosphorus-rich (KREEP-rich) samples. Compositional parameters commonly used to classify lunar regoliths such as TiO2, Al2O3, and K2O abundances are readily determined by LIBS. Certain elements support regolith analysis: For example, Ba and Zr can be used to confirm KREEP-like composition, while quantifying the Ni and Co content can be used to infer the amount of meteoritic material. Finally, it is shown that the ice content of lunar soil produces strong H emissions with the LIBS techniques at the 25 wt % H2O level, while measurements on altered basalts give a limit of detection of about 1 wt % for H2O content. This demonstrates that the 5.6 wt % water content detected by the recent LCROSS experiment should be easily detectable and quantifiable by LIBS analysis.

https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1029/2011JE003898

Remote laser‐induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) for lunar exploration

Establishing lunar resource viability

How to survive a Lunar night

The resources available for planetary science
missions are finite and subject to some uncertainty. Despite
decreasing costs of spacecraft components and launch services, the
cost of space science missions is increasing, causing some missions
to be canceled or delayed, and fewer science groups have the
opportunity to achieve their goals due to budget limits. New
methods in systems engineering have been developed to evaluate
flexible systems and their sustained lifecycle value, but these
methods are not yet employed by space agencies in the early stages
of a mission's design. Previous studies of distributed satellite
systems (DSS) showed that they are rarely competitive with
monolithic systems; however, comparatively little research has
focused on how DSS can be used to achieve new, fundamental space
science goals that simply cannot be achieved with monolithic
systems. The Responsive Systems Comparison (RSC) method combines
Multi-Attribute Tradespace Exploration with Epoch-Era Analysis to
examine benefits, costs, and flexible options in complex systems
over the mission lifecycle. Modifications to the RSC method as it
exists in previously published literature were made in order to
more accurately characterize how value is derived from space
science missions. A tiered structure in multi-attribute utility
theory allows attributes of complex systems to be mentally
compartmentalized by stakeholders and more explicitly shows synergy
between complementary science goals. New metrics help rank designs
by the value derived over their entire mission lifecycle and show
more accurate cumulative value distributions. A complete list of
the emergent capabilities of DSS was defined through the
examination of the potential benefits of DSS as well as other
science campaigns that leverage multiple assets to achieve their
scientific goals. Three distinct categories consisting of seven
total unique capabilities related to scientific data sampling and
collection were identified and defined. The three broad categories
are fundamentally unique, analytically unique, and operationally
unique capabilities. This work uses RSC to examine four case
studies of DSS missions that achieve new space science goals by
leveraging these emergent capabilities. ExoplanetSat leverages
shared sampling to conduct observations of necessary frequency and
length to detect transiting exoplanets. HOBOCOP leverages
simultaneous sampling and stacked sampling to study the Sun in far
greater detail than any previous mission. AEGIR leverages census
sampling and self-sampling to catalog asteroids for future ISRU and
mining operations. GANGMIR leverages staged sampling with sacrifice
sampling and stacked sampling to answer fundamental questions
related to the future human exploration of Mars. In all four case
studies, RSC showed how scientific value was gained that would. be
impossible or unsatisfactory with monolithic systems. Information
gained in these studies helped stakeholders more accurately
understand the risks and opportunities that arise as a result of
the added…

The value proposition of distributed satellite systems for space science missions

While the surface missions to the Moon of the 1970s achieved a great deal, scientifically much was also left unresolved. The recent plethora of lunar missions (flown or proposed) reflects a resurgence in interest in the Moon, not only in its own right, but also as a record of the early solar system including the formation of the Earth. Results from recent orbiter missions have shown evidence of ice or at least hydrogen within shadowed craters at the lunar poles.

/pdf/lunarex-a-proposal-to-cosmic-vision-2ofpslxb5e.pdf

J. Flannagan

Papers

LunarEX-a proposal to cosmic vision