NASA's Hydrogen-seeking Instrument Headed to The Moon

NASA's Hydrogen-seeking Instrument Headed to The Moon

The Neutron Spectrometer System is a science instrument capable of indirectly detecting potential water present in the lunar soil at the landing site of Astrobotic’s Peregrine Lander, as a result of the water in the exhaust deposited by the lander’s engines. After landing, the system will measure any changes in the characteristics of the lunar soil over the course of a lunar day.

As part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative and Artemis program, United Launch Alliance (ULA) and Astrobotic are targeting 2:18 a.m. EST Monday, Jan. 8, 2024, for the first commercial robotic launch to the Moon’s surface. Carrying NASA science, liftoff of ULA’s Vulcan rocket and Astrobotic’s Peregrine lunar lander will happen from Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

Through Artemis, NASA is working with multiple CLPS initiative vendors to establish a regular cadence of payload deliveries to the Moon to perform experiments, test technologies, and demonstrate capabilities to help NASA explore the lunar surface. With CLPS, as well as with human exploration near the lunar South Pole, NASA will establish a long-term cadence of Moon missions in preparation for sending the first astronauts to Mars.

Learn more about Astrobotic’s Peregrine Lunar Lander (Adobe PDF):

https://www.astrobotic.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Peregrine-Launch_Info_Packet-Web-1.pdf

Learn about NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) - Astrobotic's Peregrine Mission One:

https://www.nasa.gov/commercial-lunar-payload-services/ 

Credit: NASA's Ames Research Center (ARC)

Duration: 2 minutes

Release Date: Jan. 5, 2023 

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