Background

Why did you build this project? What inspired your team to choose this challenge?

We compared the success of the Mars Robotic missions and how we know substantially more about Mars than we do about our own moon. So we thought to ourselves, why?

We came to the following conclusion: The moon is not (yet) interesting enough.

Why is that? Because to us the moon is a dead non-changing place, and the reason for that when compared to Mars is the “believed” notion that moon is devoid of water and volatiles (or substantially more deficient than Mars is).

Thus, we believe that is solid proof (undisputed) is found for the existence of ice and volatiles (or even water for that matter), then the moon will change from a practice ground for mars and other curious places in the solar system to a treasure haven of scientific curiosities.

What it does?

How does your solution resolve the problems posed in this challenge? What problems and achievements did your team have? Share all the relevant details about your submission. Share failures as well as successes if they are interesting.

i) Solution:

We want to resolve the problem of an uninteresting moon by laser focusing on a single criteria for our sample return (Following the example of Mars robotic exploration missions many successes), and that is water or ice for that matter. It is believed that unlike the lunar highlands and other sun exposed layers of the moon, where the ice exists as a small concentration of lunar regolith (500-1000 ppm, 2-4m underneath the surface LADEE) that at the permanently shadowed craters, ice could exist as the top layer.

This would allow for:

1. Easy access to samples and simplification of drilling, sample acquiring equipment and techniques.
2. Most equipment would be tailored for water and volatiles analysis (Marinelle beaker etc.)
3. Ground imaging and ground analysis techniques would also be tailored for water and ice discovery (Electrical resistivity, radar imaging, LIDAR etc.)

ii) Problems

• Our main problem is and was time. There wasn’t enough time to calibrate, handle and interpret the huge amount of data returned by the lunar robotic explorers ourselves and therefore we instead relied on our physics background and any academic papers published in relevant journals

iii) Achievements

We believe our main achievement was in short asking the right question. The challenges that a lunar sample return holds is not an engineering problem, but one of cost and return on value. If there are other places in the solar system that are more interesting scientifically (like Mars) then resources should correctly be spent there. Therefore, the most interesting sample that could be returned and or analysed is water. There are many processes that involve water in one way or another, such as geological activity, topographic formation, asteroid impact, mineral formation etc.

Just as all biologists would tell us to follow the water, we believe that in the case of the moon (And possibly other places) we should follow the water.

iv) Submission

The key points of our mission would be as follows:

• Where did the water/ice on the moon come from (Origin)?
  • Solar wind (Hydrogen bonding to lunar regolith's top layer)
  • Cometary/Asteroid impact (Can it be traced to the exact family of asteroids? Or has it been mixed, if so, how does the temporary atmosphere created by impacts travel to the craters?
  • Geological origins (What is the structure of ice? Is it Amorphous or Hexagonal in structure such that it had enough heat to cool slower?)
• Ice on the moon
  • Does ice exist as a top-layer in permanently shadowed craters? (ice-traps of permanently shadowed craters)
  • What is the ratio of Hydrogen to Deuterium? Is it the same or similar to Earth? Closer to Mars? Or totally different? Does the ratio differ depending on the Selenography or/and the depth?
  • Is the relative amount of ice in the permanently shadowed craters a function of the age of the crater? It’s depth? It’s size?
  • Does ice (ice-dust-ice) exist as a layer underneath the regolith of the permanently shadowed craters? Is there a structure to it? Is it localized or is it universal in the craters?

There are three main phases for our mission design, and the first two phases can be launched using an expendable Falcon 9 for each phase.

1. Initial search for water using LIDAR cubesats
   1. This is more of a precursor phase than a standalone phase. LIDR cubesats will fly aboard a rocket and be inserted into a low lunar polar orbit. The cubesats will have two main tasks to achieve for the main mission:
      1. Use a Nd:YAG laser of wavelength’s 532nm and 1064nm to test the hypothesis of whether ice (Transmittance of 532, 1064 wavelengths) truly exists as a top layer in the permanently shadowed craters and if it does, for an initial estimate of it’s thickness and possibly structure/constituents
      2. Use a wavelength that would be reflected off both lunar regolith and ice to calculate the thickness of the ice and to map the topography of the craters and their immediate surroundings to a greater precision than what is capable with radar.

Those two tasks coupled together would first of all provide indisputable evidence of whether ice truly exists as a top layer in the permanently shadowed craters and give an initial estimate of it’s thickness and locality/universality within the crater. Secondly, the LIDAR cubesats would map the topography of those craters and their surroundings to a much higher precision to provide the rover (If ice was found to exist a top-layer) with safer predetermined paths to traverse and ones which would provide a better scientific return. The LIDAR cubesats could have more equipment onboard if it would better serve the mission, but it should not deviate/increase the cost such that it would deviate from the main mission keypoints. Alternatively, the cubesats could additionally provide a relay for the rover (in the same manner that cubesat A and B provided for the InSight mission) if the crater or landing site is on the far side of the moon.

2. Rover mission

If the first phase of the mission design has found the existence of ice as a top layer in the permanently shadowed craters, then it will be followed up with the main mission of sending rovers to the predetermined safe paths which would provide the best scientific return on cost. The rover(s) would for the most part be a copy of the Mars 2020 rover with the exclusion of all biological instruments/equipment.
The rover would be tasked with the following:

1. Double check the thickness of the ice estimated by the LIDAR cubesats to confirm whether they’re correct and if not, to what degree do they differ and in which topographic situation.
2. Test whether ice exists in multiple layers (ice-dust-ice, Nd:YAG wavelengths can only penetrate water/ice) and why it does so.
3. Drill ice-cores to conduct the following analysis
   1. Determine the structure of the ice (Amorphous vs Hexagonal)
   2. Analyze the amount of contaminants, residues and volatiles trapped in the ice.
      1. Conduct an initial analysis of the above mentioned, and determine whether they point to a certain origin (Solar wind, asteroid family, comets, geological).
   3. Determine the ratio of hydrogen-deuterium and compare it with other craters, sun-exposed surfaces and other objects in the solar system where the ratio is known.
   4. Determine the radioactive isotopes present in the ice and if they are in a chemical form that can be cleaned easily if manned missions are to use the ice (Solutes vs precipitates).
4. Conduct an electrical resistivity test of the regolith (if ice top layers are localized) in areas where ice doesn’t exist as a top layer to find whether ice exists underneath, and if it does at what depth and map the structure of the ice layers.

Equipment used

This is an unexhausted list of the equipment that the rover would use, but we believe those are some of the main that our rover would use

• PuO2 power source (Radioisotope thermoelectric generator, essential since the mission will be in permanently shadowed craters).
• High purity n-doped germanium gamma detector with a well shaped crystal for water analysis using Marinelli beakers (n-doping is essential to prolong the lifetime of the crystal against background radiation).
• Electrodes (Regolith electrical resistivity test)
• Chemical Spectroscope
• Neutron Spectroscope
• Ground Radar
• Ice drills (Heated with PuO2 source)
• Regolith drill for low depths (Heated with PuO2 source)

3.Sample return

Since rover(s) do not have the capability of a proper lab setting, some samples that need further analysis (such as a radioisotope signature where it could exist in a solute/precipitate chemical form) could be sent back to one of two locations.

• Lunar Gateway: The lunar gateway is the planned moon orbiting space station that NASA plans to launch in the near future. Since lunar orbit requires a Δv ≃ 1.7 km/s, a Falcon 9 or any other flight-ready medium launch vehicle should be able to conduct a sample return. The sample could be analyzed at the gateway if sufficient lab resources exist or alternatively be sent back to Earth once a vehicle is available at the gateway.
• International space station: If for any reason the lunar gateway was either expected to be launched much later or cancelled for various reasons, the International space station can be used to handle sample returns. However, a Δv ≃ 6.0 km/s is required to send a sample from the moon’s surface back to LEO and therefore a Falcon Heavy or other flight-ready heavy launch vehicles are needed. As with the Lunar gateway, the sample could be analyzed at the International space station or alternatively sent back to earth as part of Dragon or other flight-ready capsules.

We also believe our mission design would provide value for any manned missions to the moon’s surface or for the construction of an outpost or base. If the mission proves the existence of water as a top layer in the permanently shadowed craters of the moon in substantial amounts, then the base can harvest the water through heating the ice with microwave transmission from the manned base. A dome could be installed in the permanently shadowed craters where half of it is transparent to microwaves while the other is coated with aluminum or other microwave reflecting material to refocus the microwave onto the ice. Once the ice melts onto water, it could be pumped out back to the sunlit lunar base. The crater at which this is constructed would depend on the following:

1. Volume of ice accessible
2. It’s proximity to a sunlit lunar base.
3. The topography of the area and whether the required pipes and other relevant structures could be placed.

If sufficient power is available at the moon base, the water can be further processed into Hydrogen and Oxygen through electrolysis or other means of separation to be used as LOH propellant, oxygen supply, hydrogen reduction of Iron oxides or other further processes if required at the moon base.

NASA Resources

What NASA data and NASA resources did you use in your solution? Why did you use these data? Remember all Space Apps submissions must use a NASA resource (data, images, references, etc.) to be eligible for global judging.

1. Science.nasa.gov. (2019). Exploring the Presence of Water on the Moon | Science Mission Directorate. [online] Available at: https://science.nasa.gov/science-news/news-article... [Accessed 27 Oct. 2019].
2. NASA. (2019). Ice Confirmed at the Moon’s Poles. [online] Available at: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/ames/ice-confirmed-at... [Accessed 27 Oct. 2019].
3. Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute. (2019). It’s Official: Water Found on the Moon. [online] Available at: https://sservi.nasa.gov/articles/its-official-wate... [Accessed 27 Oct. 2019].
4. An.rsl.wustl.edu. (2019). LCROSS Analyst's Notebook. [online] Available at: http://an.rsl.wustl.edu/lcross/lcrossbrowser/defau... [Accessed 27 Oct. 2019].
5. NASA. (2019). LCROSS Impact Data Indicates Water on Moon. [online] Available at: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LCROSS/main/pre... [Accessed 27 Oct. 2019].
6. Ode.rsl.wustl.edu. (2019). Lunar Orbital Data Explorer - Home Page. [online] Available at: https://ode.rsl.wustl.edu/moon/index.aspx [Accessed 27 Oct. 2019].
7. Techport.nasa.gov. (2019). NASA TechPort. [online] Available at: https://techport.nasa.gov/view/14654 [Accessed 27 Oct. 2019].
8. Pds-geosciences.wustl.edu. (2019). PDS Geosciences Node Data and Services: LCROSS Mission. [online] Available at: https://pds-geosciences.wustl.edu/missions/lcross/... [Accessed 27 Oct. 2019].
9. Mars.nasa.gov. (2019). Rover. [online] Available at: https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/mission/rover/ [Accessed 27 Oct. 2019].
10. Pds.jpl.nasa.gov. (2019). The Planetary Data System. [online] Available at: https://pds.jpl.nasa.gov/ [Accessed 27 Oct. 2019].

1. Moon: NASA Science. (2019). Water on the Moon – Moon: NASA Science. [online] Available at: https://moon.nasa.gov/resources/335/water-on-the-m... [Accessed 27 Oct. 2019].
2. Lpi.usra.edu. (2019). [online] Available at: https://www.lpi.usra.edu/lunar/ALSEP/pdf/311110006... [Accessed 27 Oct. 2019].
3. NASA Solar System Exploration. (2019). In Depth | LADEE – NASA Solar System Exploration. [online] Available at: https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/missions/ladee/in-dep... [Accessed 27 Oct. 2019].
4. NASA. (2019). LADEE - Lunar Atmosphere Dust and Environment Explorer. [online] Available at: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/ladee/main/inde... [Accessed 27 Oct. 2019].
5. Vinckier, Q., Hardy, L., Gibson, M., Smith, C., Putman, P., Hayne, P. and Sellar, R. (2019). Design and Characterization of the Multi-Band SWIR Receiver for the Lunar Flashlight CubeSat Mission. Remote Sensing, 11(4), p.440.
6. Colaprete, A., Schultz, P., Heldmann, J., Wooden, D., Shirley, M., Ennico, K., Hermalyn, B., Marshall, W., Ricco, A., Elphic, R., Goldstein, D., Summy, D., Bart, G., Asphaug, E., Korycansky, D., Landis, D. and Sollitt, L. (2010). Detection of Water in the LCROSS Ejecta Plume. Science, 330(6003), pp.463-468.

Space Apps Offers

Did you take advantage of any Offers from Space Apps Collaborators or local sponsors to make your project? What were they and how were they helpful?

We would like to thank CleverPlay and the University of Bahrain for providing the venue and hosting the event as they were very helpful.

Future Plans

How can you improve your project? Do you plan to continue working on this project after Space Apps 2019?

Yes we do. We plan to create a platform for everyone to collaborate on this mission and it’s design and more importantly to find other scientific (or/and manned) venues of the moon to explore. Our initial plan is to further develop and refine our mission design, and we’re of the mind that the more available brain resource the better. We would also like to share this with anyone who is interested and especially in our region (MENA) which has much untapped potential which would be eager to work on such a project.

Built With

Insert the hardware and software tools you used here. For example, what coding languages did you use? What hardware did you use (cell phones, Arduino, Raspberry Pi, etc.)?

We are currently developing a website to serve as a documentation for our project and it will also serve as a hub for future development of the project.

The most important part of our future plan is to develop a whole platform that will be easily accessible and serve everyone interested in the project and to further develop our mission plan.

Furthermore, if the mission is implemented then we should have enough data collected from the cubesats and rovers. This huge amount of data needs to be stored and analysed, in this regard we are planning to do two things to achieve free and easy access to our content and resources that we used for our mission:

• Machine Learning program.
• Website.

1. Machine Learning

• Ability to control the robots at first.
• Smart deployment of equipment and real-time analysis of the data.
• Predict whether the location has ice.
• Ability to decide whether a sample return is required for certain collected samples.

The machine learning program is the most important part of our future plans, because we will build the program to be modular, easy to use and deployed easily and rapidly among several devices especially different types of rovers which will allow us to operate several at the same time.

2. Website:

• Will be user-friendly and responsive to work in a wide range of devices
• Will contain the data sources and documents of the mission

The website will also be a hub for our work, such that machine learning program and our work will be documented there for everyone to make use of.

Currently we have used angular framework to build the website as a single page app it is hosted on Google Firebase.

We have used several nodeJs plugins such as :

• MagicScroll.
• GSAP (TweenMax,timelinemax etc.).
• Bootstrap.

In the future we plan to develop an automated system including machine learning, so we have a list of tools that we will use to achieve that:

• Python : as a programming language which will host Keras.
• Keras : as a machine learning framework which is built on top of tensorflow.
• Angular : as UI/UX front end for documenting our api we built and program and datasets.
• NodeJs : as API language and overall tooling.
• GraphQl: as query language of future api build for datasets.

Try it out

Where can we find your submission to try ourselves? Post a link to your public code repository (e.g., GitHub) or a link to an app store (e.g., iTunes, Google Play). You can also provide a demo of you showcasing the project in the form of a video link.

(Links)

Website : www.projectnereus.com

GitHub : https://github.com/AhmedAlSaeed/SpaceApps2019-Website/

Youtube Video: https://youtu.be/oVUH5CoHtRA

#nasa, #moon, #craters, #water, #lunar_flashlight, #apollo, #LCROSS, #LRO, #LADEE, #cubesat, #satellite , #Lidar, #electrical_resistivity, #mars2020, #lunar, #nuclear, #ISRU, #sample_return, #ice, #physics, #NodeJS , #machine_learning, #TensorFlow, #keras, #GraphQL , #angular , #bootstrap, #python