NASA Payload LMS Deploys on Lunar Surface to Study Moon’s Interior

A science instrument aboard Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost Mission 1 is the first extraterrestrial application of the Lunar Magnetotelluric Sounder (LMS). The instrument is one of 10 NASA payloads aboard Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost Mission 1 lander as part of the agency’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative. After landing on the Moon March 2, the Blue Ghost lander deployed four tethered LMS electrodes and a 2-meter mast to commence the instruments' lunar operations to shed light on the differentiation and thermal history of the Moon. The beginning of this video shows the moment the magnetometer is deployed via an extendable mast. The LMS instrument ejects one of its cable-trailing electrodes onto the lunar surface, reaching a distance up to 60 feet. The instrument will measure voltages across opposite pairs of electrodes, much like the probes of a conventional voltmeter. The magnetotelluric method reveals a vertical profile of the electrical conductivity, providing insight into the temperature and composition of the penetrated materials in the lunar interior. These instruments will allow NASA and its partners to study the deep interior of the Moon to depths of up to 700 miles, two-thirds of the way to the lunar center. LMS and its companion NASA science and technology instruments aboard the lander will operate on the Moon, near a volcanic feature called Mons Latreille within Mare Crisium, for approximately 14 Earth days, or roughly one lunar day. Southwest Research Institute based in San Antonio built the central electronics for LMS and leads the science investigation. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, provided the LMS magnetometer to measure the magnetic fields, and Heliospace Corp. provided the electrodes used to measure the electrical fields, as well as the magnetometer mast and electrode launchers. The Planetary Missions Program Office at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, manages the development for seven of the 10 CLPS payloads aboard Firefly’s Blue Ghost lunar lander, including LMS. Video courtesy Firefly Aerospace.