Jane Edwards
Draper has received a $73 million contract from NASA to bring three Artemis science investigations to the lunar surface in 2025.
The contract awarded under the space agency’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services program covers the delivery of three experiments to the lunar impact crater on the moon’s far side, called Schrodinger Basin, and the Farside Seismic Suite is one of the experiments that will ride on Draper’s SERIES-2 lunar lander, NASA said Friday.
The FSS experiment seeks to gather data on the moon’s internal structure and understand tectonic activity on the lunar far side.
Another payload suite, Lunar Interior Temperature and Materials Suite, will investigate the subsurface electrical conductivity structure and heat flow of the lunar interior in the basin, while the Lunar Surface ElectroMagnetics Experiment will measure electromagnetic phenomena on the moon’s surface.
“Understanding geophysical activity on the far side of the Moon will give us a deeper understanding of our solar system and provide information to help us prepare for Artemis astronaut missions to the lunar surface,” said Joel Kearns, deputy associate administrator for exploration at NASA’s science mission directorate.
The Draper contract marks the eighth delivery task award made under the CLPS initiative.
