Missions to Difficult Lunar Terrains with “Mote” Ballistic Penetrators

Abstract:

Space Initiatives Inc has been developing small “Mote” ballistic penetrators under Air Force and other contracts to provide commercial support for robotic and crewed operations on and near the Moon. The ~1 kg Mote penetrators, each of which has on-board processing, communications and sensors, would be carried within a carrier to be delivered by a dedicated mission or possibly by NASA Commercial Lunar Payload Services lander. After deployment by the carrier the Mote would fall ballistically, impacting the surface at up to 300 m/s, penetrating 1 meter or more in most lunar regolith, placing a sensor array spread, in a nominal mission, ~1 km over the lunar surface.

Ballistic penetrators allow for the rapid initial scientific investigation of difficult to reach terrain such as the polar Permanently Shadowed Regions (PSRs), lava tube pits and skylights, or volcanic vents, or geographically spread areas of interest such as the lunar swirl regions. The planned CLPS landing in the Schrödinger Basin impact melt expected in Q2 2024 shows the potential for enhancing lunar research with ballistic penetrators. The impact melt is in the Southern edge of Schrödinger crater, roughly 60 km from the PSR in Nefed'ev Crater and ~100 km from the apparent volcanic vent forming the Schrödinger-G pit. A Mote deployment in Nefed’ev crater would provide geological and compositional data on the icy subsurface material deep in the PSR, while a deployment within or on the rim of the Schrödinger-G pit would provide similar data on the pyroclastic material in the vent. In either case the Motes would confirm the ability of the terrain to bear a lander or rover and would provide a initial scientific analysis of the type of icy or volcanic material present in the explored region as a precursor to any subsequent scientific exploration by rovers or astronauts.