Lunar Vulkan Imaging and Spectroscopy Explorer (Lunar-VISE)
The Lunar-VISE mission will travel to the Moon’s Gruithuisen domes where a suite of instruments on a lander and rover will measure the properties of the lunar rocks and regolith, helping us understand how these mysterious domes formed. I am a science instrument Co-I on the gamma-ray and neutron spectrometer being built by Arizona State University and BAE Systems (formerly Ball Aerospace), in collaboration with Radiation Monitoring Devices Inc..
Mission info can be found here.
I am currently in the process of running and analyzing MCNP models to study the various instrument responses for different landed/roving scenarios on the Moon. A range of boulder sizes has been provided by M. Landis using the LROC NAC images. These boulder sizes (including uncertainty) can be used in MCNP models to understand LV-GRNS response from the general family of boulder sizes we expect along our traverse path. I have created a suite of lunar compositions to input into my models to create various composition and boulder size grid models. Potential future studies may include field measurements for changes in thorium concentration at the Colorado Rocky Flats site.
Publications/Presentations
M.E. Landis, et al, “LUNAR-VISE NOTIONAL TRAVERSE PLANNING AND STRATEGY,” LPSC 2024, Abstract #2345.