Scientific Goals
T he expl oration of the Moon is by no means complete, and interest in the Moon remains high. Past and recent missions continue to pose as many questions as they answer. This page provides some information on plans for vario us proposed future missions to, and operations on, the Moon.
As a Discovery-class mission, Prospector's scientific goals were carefully chosen to address outstanding q uest ion s of lun ar science both efficiently and effectively. In the Post-Apollo era, NASA convened the Lunar Exp loratio n Science Working Group (LExSWG) to draft a list of the most pressing, unanswered scientific riddles still facing the lu nar-science commun i ty. In 1992, LExSWG produced a document, entitled "A Planetary Science Strategy for the Moon." The following lunar science objectives were listed: How did the Earth-Moon syste m form? How did the Moon evolve? What is the impact history of the Moonís crust? Wh a t co n stit ute s the lunar atmosphere? What can the Moon tell us about the history of the Sun and other planets in the Solar Sys te m?
Lunar Prospector mission designers c arefully selected a set of objectives .
Lunar Prospector's identified c ritical science objectives are:
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"Prospect" the lunar crust and atmosphere for potential resources, including minerals, water ice and certain gases,
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Map the Moonís gravitational and magnetic fields .
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Learn more about the size and content of the Moonís core.
The six experiments (five science instr ume nts) which address these objectives are:
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Neutron Spectrometer (NS) --Map hydrogen at several signature energies and thereby infer the presence or absence of water.
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Gamma Ray Spectrometer (GRS) -- Map 10 key elemental abundances, several of which offer clues to lunar formation and evolution.
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Magnetometer/Electron Reflectometer (Mag/ ER) -- These two experiments combine to measure lunar magnetic field strength at the surface and at the altitud e of the spacecraft and thereby greatly enhance understanding of lunar magnetic anomalies.
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Doppler Gravity Experiment (DGE) -- Make an op erational gravity map of the Moon for use by future missions as well as LP by mapping gravity field measurements from changes in the spacecraftís orbital speed and position.
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Alpha Particle Spectrometer (APS) -- M ap out-gassing events by detecting Radon gas (current outgassing events) and Polonium (tracer of recent, i.e. 50 ye ar s).