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We may already have some of the tools we need for the next generation of space exploration. | Credit: NASA
As the Moon and Mars take center stage in human spaceflight, scientists are leveraging existing space missions to lay the foundation for a sustainable human presence off-planet.
From identifying water resources on the Moon to protecting crews from harmful radiation and managing abrasive dust, researchers described how new results from in-service missions address the practical challenges of exploration during a Dec. 17 news conference at the American Geophysical Union (AGU) meeting in Louisiana.
The scientific work presented at the conference comes as NASA prepares for a new push in human exploration. On December 18, President Donald Trump signed a decree order the agency to return astronauts to the Moon by 2028 and begin building the “first elements” of a permanent lunar base by 2030, with newly sworn in NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman is leading the effort.
At the AGU briefing, scientists said they are helping support these ambitions by adapting tools and datasets originally developed for Earth to support future missions to the Moon and Mars.
For example, Gina DiBraccio, a heliophysicist and acting director of the Solar System Exploration Division at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, discussed a decision support tool originally designed to track space weather near Earth, which has been expanded to incorporate data from Mars missions, helping astronauts assess radiation risks in near real time from the Martian surface.
THE dashboard integrates data from multiple Mars missions, including NASA’s MAVEN orbiter, the Curiosity and Perseverance rovers, with additional data sources planned, DiBraccio said. The project is envisioned as an all-in-one display that astronauts could access on a tablet, allowing crews to monitor space weather events such as solar flares and determine whether protective measures are needed.
“This is really one of the first steps in the tools that astronauts will be able to use to understand and assess space weather from the surface of Mars,” DiBraccio said.
Other long-duration missions to Mars also produce critical data sets for understanding radiation risks, scientists said.
Shannon Curry, MAVEN principal investigator at UC Boulder, highlighted a recently completed project catalog of Martian space weather events compiled from the orbiter’s now-silent data spanning a full solar cycle from 2014 to 2025. The catalog allows scientists to quantify radiation levels in orbit – some of which can penetrate Mars’ thin atmosphere and reach the surface – during periods of low and high solar activity.
“It really indicates, over a full solar cycle, what we can expect to see and when we can expect to see it,” Curry said.
Scientists also stressed the importance of locating water resources on the Moon, particularly near the lunar south pole, where NASA plans to land astronauts as part of its Artemis program.
The four astronauts chosen for the Artemis 2 mission to the Moon. | Credit: NASA/Aubrey Gemignani
“The challenge right now is that the data sets don’t exactly match where the water is,” Bethany Ehlmann, director of the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) at the University of Colorado Boulder, told reporters.
“We know it’s at the south pole and there are few interesting craters,” she said. “But that’s like saying, ‘There’s water in the city of New Orleans somewhere.'”
A new imaging spectrometer NASA selected in July could help address that uncertainty, she said. The instrument, which could be used in lunar orbit, is designed to act as “enhanced eyes” for astronauts and scientists by mapping water and minerals and identifying scientific sites to collect samples.
Another objective of the information session was moon dusta persistent challenge during the Apollo era. Fine, abrasive particles damaged spacesuits and equipment, and Apollo 17 astronaut Harrison “Jack” Schmitt suffered the first recorded case of alien hay fever after exposure to moon dust.
“I think dust is probably one of our biggest inhibitors to a nominal operation on the Moon,” said Gene Cernan, Apollo 17 commander. said during a post-mission debriefing. “I think we can overcome other physiological, physical or mechanical problems except dust.”
Scientists are now meeting this challenge with new instruments and missions.
One of them, DUSTER – short for Dust and Plasma Environment Surveyor – was selected for NASA’s Artemis IV mission. Led by Xu Wang of the University of Colorado Boulder, the $24.8 million project will deploy a suite of instruments on a rover to record dust and plasma conditions near the lunar surface and assess their response to human activity.
Another instrument the team is developing is a Compact Electrostatic Dust Analyzer (CEDA), designed to measure key properties of lunar dust, Wang said. The instrument is designed to operate either on the surface or aboard an orbiting spacecraft and to survive hard landings whatever the orientation.
“Dust is everywhere on the Moon,” Wang told reporters Wednesday. “You can’t get around it. You have to face it and live with it.”
Work is also underway to understand whether Mars localized magnetic fields could provide astronomers with limited natural protection against radiation. Initial modeling based on orbital observations suggests that crustal magnetic fields locked in Martian rocks could provide shielding over distances of a few kilometers.
To map these regions in more detail, teams are working to further miniaturize magnetometers that could be mounted on aerial vehicles, such as small drones similar to NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter, now retiredallowing surface surveys with much finer resolution than possible from orbit, according to Jared Espley, a NASA Goddard space scientist participating in the research.
Together, this work highlights how robotic missions are crucially shaping the future of human exploration, the scientists said.
“It’s really not about robotic exploration or human exploration,” Ehlmann said. “It’s an ‘and’ — it’s robotic And human exploration and how we can best achieve it together.
