Resource Prospector is a lunar mission to investigate "strategic knowledge gaps" (SKGs) for in situ resource utilization (ISRU). The mission is proposed to land at one of the two poles where there are indication of enhanced volatile (hydrogen) concentrations. The landing site will be determined by the RP site-analysis team with input from broader lunar exploration community as being near traversable landscape that has a high potential of containing elevated concentrations of volatiles such as water while maximizing mission duration. A rover will host the Regolith and Environment Science and Oxygen and Lunar Volatile Extraction (RESOLVE) payload for resource mapping and processing. The instruments on the payload include a 1 -meter drill, neutron spectrometer, a near infrared spectrometer, a drill operations camera, and a reactor with a gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer for volatile analysis. The concept of operations for the mission were tested during a field test in the fall of 2015. The path from the field test towards flight will be discussed as well as the current status of the instruments in the RESOLVE payload.
展开▼