(ORDO NEWS) — NASA has announced two winners of the PRISM competition, who offered to send the next sets of scientific equipment to the Moon under the CLPS program.
As part of the first project, the Gamma Gruithuisen volcano will be investigated, the second proposes to study the growth of baker’s yeast on the surface of the moon.
On June 2, NASA announced the winners of the PRISM competition – they proposed their own options for payloads that will go to the Moon by private companies under the CLPS program.
More about what will be sent to the moon
The authors of the first project proposed to explore the shield volcano Gamma Gruytuizena. This object, located in the Sea of Rains on the visible side of the satellite, will be studied for 10 Earth days (or one lunar day) using five Lunar-VISE (Lunar Vulkan Imaging and Spectroscopy Explorer) instruments: three will move on a small rover, and two will remain in the landing module.
The second project is devoted to biological science: as part of an experiment called LEIA (Lunar Explorer Instrument for Space Biology Applications), ordinary baker’s yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) will be sent to the moon.
The authors of the project proposed to look at their development and growth under the conditions of lunar gravity and radiation exposure – this will provide new information about how these conditions can affect living organisms at the cellular and molecular levels.
In addition, as part of the previous PRISM competition, a seismograph will go to the far side of the Moon, and a lunar rover and a drilling device will go to its southern polar region.
Briefly about the CLPS program
The CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) program has been carried out by NASA for four years already, within the framework of which, on a competitive basis, various automatic vehicles, lunar rovers, scientific instruments and cargoes are being developed and delivered to the moon with the help of American private space companies.
The goal of the program is to reduce the cost of research and speed up the delivery of equipment to the Moon, including within the framework of the Artemis program, as well as help companies improve new technologies.
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