Small Penetrator Instrument Concept for the Advancement of Lunar Surface Science - IOPscience

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The following article is Open access<br>Small Penetrator Instrument Concept for the Advancement of Lunar Surface Science<br>C. J. Ahrens, D. A. Paige, T. M. Eubanks, W. P. Blase, K. E. Mesick, W. Zimmerman, N. Petro, P. O. Hayne and S. Price<br>Published 2021 February 25 &bull;<br>© 2021. The Author(s). Published by the American Astronomical Society.

The Planetary Science Journal,<br>Volume 2,<br>Number 1<br>Lunar Mission Concepts and High-priority Landing Sites<br>Citation C. J. Ahrens et al 2021 Planet. Sci. J. 2 38DOI 10.3847/PSJ/abda4f<br>Download Article PDFDownloadArticle ePub<br>You need an eReader or compatible software to experience the benefits of the ePub3 file format.

Authors

C. J. AhrensAFFILIATIONS<br>Solar System Exploration Division, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA; caitlin.ahrens@nasa.gov

EMAIL<br>caitlin.ahrens@nasa.gov<br>caitlin.ahrens@nasa.gov

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1574-112X<br>D. A. PaigeAFFILIATIONS<br>Dept. of Earth, Planetary and Space Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA

T. M. EubanksAFFILIATIONS<br>Space Initiatives Inc., 527 Burlington Avenue, Palm Bay, FL 32907, USA

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9543-0414<br>W. P. BlaseAFFILIATIONS<br>Space Initiatives Inc., 527 Burlington Avenue, Palm Bay, FL 32907, USA

K. E. MesickAFFILIATIONS<br>Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87545, USA

W. ZimmermanAFFILIATIONS<br>Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109, USA

N. PetroAFFILIATIONS<br>Solar System Exploration Division, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA; caitlin.ahrens@nasa.gov

P. O. HayneAFFILIATIONS<br>Laboratory for Atmospheric & Space Physics, and Astrophysical & Planetary Sciences Department, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO 80309, USA

S. PriceAFFILIATIONS<br>Deep Space Systems, 8100 Shaffer Parkway, Littleton, CO 80127, USA

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Article information<br>Dates<br>Received 2020 November 5<br>Revised 2020 December 2<br>Accepted 2020 December 10<br>Published 2021 February 25

Unified Astronomy Thesaurus concepts<br>Lunar probes; Lunar science; The Moon; Lunar composition; Lunar surface

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2632-3338/2/1/38Abstract

Fundamental scientific objectives concerning the surface and subsurface material and dynamics of the Moon are the drivers for the use and advancement of penetrators, which emplace a suite of scientific instruments by impact into a planetary surface, typically at velocities of dozens to hundreds of meters per second. Small lunar penetrators are poised to become a valuable new tool for lunar science and exploration during the next decade. These low-cost ballistic probes can be deployed in large numbers from orbit, or from descending robotic or crewed vehicles, in order to explore and characterize the diversity of extreme lunar shallow subsurface environments. In this paper, we describe the general overview of penetrator objectives, potential instrumentation, and how these would benefit the advancement of lunar science at various extreme environments.

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1. Introduction<br>Lunar exploration during the next decade will see many opportunities for human and robotic missions. Some key next-decade mission goals currently under consideration include sample return, lunar network science, and exploring extreme environments. The extreme lunar environments that have thus far been identified via analysis of orbital data include (but are certainly not limited to): permanently shadowed regions at the lunar poles (Watson et al. 1961; Feldman et al. 1998; Campbell et al. 2006; Paige et al. 2010; Hayne et al. 2015; Li et al. 2018; Rubanenko et al. 2019); steep topographic slopes (Kreslavsky & Head 2016); extreme rocky regions (Bandfield et al. 2017); lunar caves and pits (Hong et al. 2014); and lunar swirls (Blewett et al. 2011; Glotch et al. 2015). These extreme environments present significant challenges in terms of accessibility, as well as...