NASA's Artemis program, which regularly conducts robotic missions to the Moon, has chosen a new scientific payload to study the age and composition of hilly terrain resulting from volcanic activity on the near side of our lunar neighbor.
The scientific instrument suite known as DIMPLE (Dating an Irregular Mare Patch with a Lunar Explorer) will be deployed to investigate the Ina Irregular Mare Patch, a mound previously discovered in 1971 through Apollo 15 orbital images. By unraveling the mysteries of this geological formation, scientists hope to gain insights into the Moon's evolution, shedding light on the history of the entire solar system.
DIMPLE is the outcome of the third annual proposal call for PRISM (Payloads and Research Investigations on the Surface of the Moon), a NASA initiative called CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) that facilitates the delivery of scientific investigations to the Moon. This PRISM call was the first to allow proposers to select and justify a specific landing site for conducting high-priority lunar science studies.
"The commercial payload delivery initiative is fostering a surge in lunar science and exploration," remarked Nicola Fox, associate administrator for science at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "DIMPLE will contribute to our growing knowledge of the Moon, aiding our understanding of the origins of Earth and other planets in the solar system. Furthermore, the more we comprehend about our closest celestial neighbor, the better equipped we are to support long-term human exploration on the Moon and, eventually, Mars."
The cost ceiling for the DIMPLE instrument suite is $50 million, and the delivery date is scheduled for no earlier than the second quarter of 2027. NASA anticipates issuing a CLPS task order in 2024 to determine the launch services that will transport DIMPLE to the Moon.
These efforts form part of NASA's broader lunar plans under the Artemis program, which aims to explore more of the Moon than ever before using advanced robotics and astronauts.
The Moon offers a wealth of scientific discoveries, and while NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has already identified approximately 70 Irregular Mare Patches, Ina remains the largest one discovered to date.
DIMPLE will play a crucial role in determining whether Irregular Mare Patches originated from recent or ancient volcanic processes. The mission will utilize a rover provided through CLPS, a sample collection tool, and a spectrometer to analyze the age and composition of collected lunar samples from Ina's surface. DIMPLE will be capable of collecting and analyzing anywhere from three to over 25 samples, aiming to unravel the timing of the volcanic activity that shaped this distinctive feature. Understanding the recentness of the volcanic activity on the Moon would provide insights into the lunar mantle's thermal history and potentially reveal new information about small-scale eruptions that occurred later in lunar evolution. On the other hand, if the eruptions responsible for Ina are determined to be older, it would prompt a reassessment of the age and evolution of lunar craters, with implications for understanding the history of Earth and other planets in the solar system.
Joel Kearns, deputy associate administrator for exploration in NASA's Science Mission Directorate, expressed the mission's significance, stating, "With the selection of DIMPLE, we aim to definitively resolve the debate on how recently the Moon was volcanically active. This not only presents a scientifically intriguing enigma that will fundamentally reshape our understanding of lunar thermal evolution but also demonstrates an exciting technology that can be applied to measure absolute ages of various geological terrains across the solar system."
The principal investigator for the DIMPLE mission is F. Scott Anderson from the Solar System Science and Exploration Division at Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado. The CLPS initiative serves as a vital component of NASA's Artemis lunar exploration endeavors, allowing the agency to conduct cutting-edge scientific research on the Moon in a more cost-effective manner. The payloads, both scientific and technological, dispatched to the lunar surface as part of this initiative will establish the groundwork for future human missions.
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