UMD astronomer prepares for NASA mission to study mysterious lunar domes

UMD astronomer prepares for NASA mission to study mysterious lunar domes
by Clarence Oxford
Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jan 29, 2025

NASA has selected Firefly Aerospace to deliver the Lunar Vulkan Imaging and Spectroscopy Explorer (Lunar-VISE) payload to the enigmatic Gruithuisen Domes, located on the moon's surface. Spearheaded by the University of Central Florida (UCF) with support from partners such as the University of Maryland (UMD), this ambitious mission seeks to unravel the origins of the Domes and assess the moon's potential for future exploration resources.

UMD Professor of Astronomy and Geology Jessica Sunshine, serving as a co-investigator and instrument scientist, views the mission announcement as a critical advancement in understanding the moon's volcanic history and its evolutionary processes.

"We are beginning to have actual hardware and are building our instruments, and now we know how we will get them deployed on the lunar surface and what our rover will look like," Sunshine said. "What started as a concept and then figures in a proposal is now amazingly really happening. While the project has a lot of work to do, particularly as we integrate with Firefly, this marks a new exciting phase that gets us tantalizingly close to going from paper to the moon."

The Lunar-VISE mission, currently under development and targeted for a 2028 launch, will explore the Gruithuisen Domes on the moon's near side over a 10-day period. A primary objective of the mission is to study how these silica-rich volcanic formations emerged - a phenomenon not easily explained due to the absence of Earth-like geological conditions such as plate tectonics and oceans. Equipped with advanced instruments, the rover will analyze ancient lava flows and other geological features around the Domes to reconstruct the moon's geological history and evolution.

Throughout the first half of 2025, the Lunar-VISE team will focus on assembling, testing, and calibrating flight instruments. These include visible and near-infrared cameras designed for electromagnetic wave detection, which are crucial for remote sensing and imaging. By August 2025, the team aims to complete testing to ensure all components meet operational requirements and safety standards for the lunar mission.

"I'm very proud of our Lunar-VISE team in developing, building and testing our payload instruments and getting us ready for integration onto Firefly's [Blue Ghost 3] lunar lander and rover," said Kerri Donaldson Hanna, the project's principal investigator and an associate professor in UCF's Department of Physics. "The Lunar-VISE team is excited to work with Firefly to plan our science and exploration operations at the Gruithuisen Domes in 2028."