The ESA PROSPECT Payload for CP22: Science Activity Plans and Operations Planning

THE ESA PROSPECT PAYLOAD FOR CP22: SCIENCE ACTIVITY PLANS AND OPERATIONS PLANNING. D. Heather, R. Fisackerly, R. Trautner, L. Nicolae, J. Salgado, the PROSPECT Science Team* and Industrial Consortium. ESTEC, European Space Agency, Keplerlaan 1, Noordwijk 2201AZ, Netherlands ([email protected]nt) *Feargus Abernethy, Mahesh Anand, Simeon Barber, Sebastien Besse, Neil Bowles, John Brucato, Abigail Calzada-Diaz, James Carpenter, Luke Chipperfield, Barbara Cohen, Aidan Cowley, Ian Crawford, Gabriele Cremonese, Maria Cristina De Sanctis, Simone Di Angelis, Kerri Donaldson-Hanna, Carlos Espejel, Marco Ferrari, Richard Fisackerly, Michelangelo Formisano, Teresa Fornaro, Evelyn Fueri, Fred Goesmann, Laura Grill, Christian Gscheidle, Christophe Hissler, Hung Q. Hoang, Katherine Joy, Akos Kereszturi, Julian Klaus, Julian-Alexandre Lamamy, Michèle Lavagna, Mark Leese, Veneranda Lopez-Diaz, Paolo Lunghi, Dayl Martin, Francesca McDonald, Jeffrey McDonnell, Andrea Meneghin, Giada Meogrossi, Andrew Morse, James Mortimer, Csilla Orgel, Laurent Pfister, Jacopo Prinetto, Andrea Rusconi, Guido Sangiovanni, Hannah Sargeant, Nicole Schmitz, James Schwanethal, Christian Schwartz, Simon Sheridan, Romain Tartèse, Sasha Verchovsky, Ulrich Walter, Tristram Warren, Kris Zacny Introduction: The Package for Resource Observation and in-Situ Prospecting for Exploration, Commercial Characterisation and Testing (PROSPECT) is a payload in development by ESA for use at the lunar surface. PROSPECT is being prepared for flight as part of the NASA CLPS program on the ‘CP22’ mission to the lunar south pole region, which has been awarded to Intuitive Machines. PROSPECT Overview: PROSPECT will perform an assessment of the volatile inventory in the near surface lunar regolith (down to ~1 m), and complete elemental and isotopic analyses to determine the abundance and origin of any volatiles discovered [1]. PROSPECT also has ISRU capabilities and will aim to complete in-situ extraction of oxygen (and solar wind implanted volatiles) from lunar minerals, which will constitute potential science return from anywhere on the Moon, regardless of volatile content. PROSPECT is comprised of the ProSEED drill module and the ProSPA analytical laboratory plus the Solids Inlet System (SIS), a carousel of sealable ovens for evolving volatiles from regolith (Figure 1). The ProSEED drill is capable of collecting two icy samples of different sizes and mechanical properties in a single sampling operation, one of up to 45 mm3 and a second up to 8 cm3, with the smaller sample delivered to ProSPA for analyses. The drill rod also has integrated temperature sensors and a sensor to measure the electrical permittivity of the lunar soil along the borehole to give an indication of the presence of water ice and small subsurface structures in the surrounding regolith. The ProSPA laboratory will receive samples from the drill, seal them in miniaturized ovens, and process them via ramped (EGA), stepped (isotopic) or single step (ISRU) heating up to ~1000 °C, completing physical and chemical processing of released volatiles, and analyzing the obtained constituents via Ion Trap (ITMS) or Magnetic Sector (MS) mass spectroscopy. ProSEED and ProSPA will also each carry small cameras. The ProSEED Imaging System (IS) has multispectral capabilities via 6 LEDs, which can illuminate the surface with wavelengths ranging from 451 to 970nm. This will provide images and ‘video’ of the drill working area to monitor activities and deliver contextual scientific information. ProSPA’s Sample Credit: ESA, Leonardo and Open University Figure 1: Rendering of PROSPECT on a polar lander, including the ProSEED drill module, and ProSPA. ProSPA comprises 1) the Solids Inlet System (SIS), and 2) the Analytical Laboratory (AL). Camera (SamCam [2]) has its own specific illumination unit with similar capabilities to the ProSEED IS and will image the samples before they are sealed in the ovens, providing information on their morphology, grain size, volume and mineralogy. PROSPECT recently passed the system wide Critical Design Review (CDR) stage [3] PROSPECT Science Team Plans: The PROSPECT Science Team (ST), led by the ESA Project Scientist, comprises ~40 experts within Europe, including 8 ‘Investigation Leads’. Together, the ST is responsible for supporting all activities related to the scientific exploitation of PROSPECT instrumentation. In recent years, the ProSPA Bench Development Model (BDM) at the Open University has been used to verify the performance of evolved gas analysis (EGA), demonstrate ISRU capabilities [4, 5], and validate the performance of oven seal materials [6]. Detailed modelling of volatile loss from a sample throughout the sampling-analysis chain has also been completed for the range of expected volatile contents, e.g. [7], including studies of sublimation rates in realistic operational environments [8,9]. These studies have been critical inputs to the operation planning for the payload, helping to ensure the best way in which PROSPECT can achieve its high priority science objectives and maximise science return within the tight operational constraints available. This has been the main focus for the Science Team recently, with two fundamental operational scenarios defined, depending upon whether regolith at the landing site is found to be icy or dry. Conceptually, operations for PROSPECT will be ‘front-loaded’ for science, pushing for high impact science activities and the highest priority science objectives as early as possible rather than building up towards them. This is mainly driven by the limited operational lifetime on the lunar surface, which will also mean that there will be very little operator interaction and limited tactical planning available. The baseline plan includes two ‘vertical surveys’, each of which includes the acquisition and analysis of 4 subsurface samples. The general pattern of activities would be to run an ‘Evolved Gas Analysis’ on the first sample using the ion trap (ITMS), and then a magnetic sector (MS) analysis on the second sample which is taken from a similar depth. In combination, this would provide a complete chemical analysis with abundance and isotopic measurements for key species at that depth in the borehole. For the very first sample, the ISRU demonstration would also be attempted after the EGA, in order to maximise the use of that sample. Samples 3 and 4 would follow a similar pattern with an EGA followed by MS, but they would be acquired ~40cm deeper than the initial samples. The permittivity sensor is 40cm from the drill tip, so by leaving a 40cm gap between the sampling depths, the permittivity sensor can be used to take contextual measurements at the first and second sampling locations. This will also allow for measurements to be taken in the ‘third dimension’ to look for vertical distribution of various species within the borehole, which is one of PROSPECT’s primary objectives. With these 4 sampling and analysis sequences, the first ‘vertical survey’ is complete. A second borehole would follow the same operational pattern, and provide lateral profiling for any ices, volatiles and species of interest. In combination, the two vertical surveys would allow for PROSPECT to meet its priority objectives. The differences between the icy and dry scenarios will primarily be in the various parameters and instrument modes used. The dry scenario would also allow for ‘hot’ operations, as there is no need to manage icy volatile loss by leaving long cooling / rest periods. Work will continue through the year as the plan develops, to detail the parameters to use for sampling depths, oven heating profiles, gas processing etc. This will also allow for more fine tuning of the priorities. Figure 2: Example flow chart for operational activities related to the first sample acquisition and analysis. In addition to the operations planning, the ST has been preparing a work plan that details the effort needed to support PROSPECT all the way from today through launch, operations, data exploitation, and data archive delivery (6-months after end of mission operations). The specific work will be highly dependent on which part of the payload is being supported, but generally includes ground calibrations, testing of command sequences, and end-to-end testing to understand how each aspect of the payload is expected to perform. In addition, data pipelines will be developed to manage the data returned as quickly and effectively as possible, processing the data from telemetry through to a calibrated level. Scientific inputs will also be provided in support of the development of a ground segment that will allow for operational decisions to be made as quickly and efficiently as possible. All of these efforts will feed into the operations planning as the ST start to understand how best to utilise the system to return the best science. References: [1] Trautner, R. et al., (2018) in Proc. Int. Astronaut. Congr. IAC, Vol. 2018-October. [2] Murray, N. J. et al. (2020) in LPSC, LPI, Abs #. 1918. [4] Fisackerly, R.K. et al., (2025) this meeting. [4] Sargeant, H. M. et al., (2020) PSS. 180 (104751). [5] Sargeant, H. M. et al., (2020) in LPSC, LPI, Abs #. 2058. [6] Abernethy, F. A. J. et al., (2020) PSS, 180 (104784). [7] King, O. et al., (2019) PSS, 104790. [8] Formisano, M. et al., (2019) PSS, 169. [9] Mortimer, J. et al., (2018) PSS, 158, 25–33.