Neutron Measurements on the Lunar Surface (NMLS) is a project to deliver an instrument manifested on Astrobotic Technology’s Peregrine Lander Mission One, to be launched on the new United Launch Alliance (ULA) Vulcan Centaur, landing on the Lacus Mortis plateau (44oN, 25oE). Astrobotic was selected as a commercial lander provider to deliver fourteen payloads to the lunar surface under the NASA Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative.
The NMLS instrument is a re-design of the Fast Neutron Spectrometer (FNS) currently operating on the International Space Station (ISS), enabling lunar surface operation, integration into the Peregrine Lander and measurement of the thermal and epi-thermal neutron count rates on the Moon. The primary science objectives for the NMLS project are to provide ground truth for neutron map data from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and Lunar Prospector missions as well as to constrain surface composition models. Neutrons are created on the Moon’s surface when galactic cosmic rays interact with the lunar regolith and can provide valuable elemental composition information.
The project recently participated in its first mission simulation with Astrobotic and the other payload teams on 7/23/21. Commands were successfully passed from the project server in Huntsville to the Astrobotic server in Pittsburgh PA. The flight instrument delivery date has now been set by Astrobotic to be NET March 2022.
