{"id":128939,"date":"2022-06-02T16:08:40","date_gmt":"2022-06-02T20:08:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/128939///news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/128939//www.ucf.edu/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/128939//news/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/128939//?p=128939"},"modified":"2025-10-17T16:07:14","modified_gmt":"2025-10-17T20:07:14","slug":"nasa-selects-ucf-for-35-million-mission-to-the-moons-mysterious-gruithuisen-domes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/128939///news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/128939//www.ucf.edu/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/128939//news/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/128939//nasa-selects-ucf-for-35-million-mission-to-the-moons-mysterious-gruithuisen-domes/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/128939//","title":{"rendered":"NASA Selects UCF for $35 Million Mission to the Moon/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/128939/u2019s Mysterious Gruithuisen Domes"},"content":{"rendered":"

NASA today tapped UCF/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/128939/u2019s dynamic duo, planetary scientists Kerri Donaldson Hanna and Adrienne Dove, to lead a $35 million science mission that will land a spacecraft on a part of the moon never visited before /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/128939/u2014 the Gruithuisen Domes./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/128939/n

The domes, located in the western portion of the Imbrium basin rim, remain a mystery to scientists. Flyover data from previous missions indicate that they are made of silicic minerals /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/128939/u2014 rock hardened from cooled magma. On Earth, the closest comparison may be Mount St. Helens. The volcanic features appear to have large concentrations of heat producing elements, which could potentially be used for resources for long term exploration of the moon./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/128939/n

The robotic mission would launch in 2026 to study the domes/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/128939/u2019 chemical composition and how dust interacts with the spacecraft and a rover. Two projects were announced as part of NASA/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/128939/u2019s highly competitive Payloads and Research Investigations on the Surface of the Moon (PRISM) program, which is part of the federal agency/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/128939/u2019s plan to use more commercial companies to take payloads to the moon through its Commercial Lunar Payload Services program. A series of missions have been approved to support the Artemis program and continue lunar exploration. The UCF-led mission is called the Lunar Vulkan Imaging and Spectroscopy Explorer./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/128939/n

/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/128939/u201cWe/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/128939/u2019re still in awe,/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/128939/u201d says Donaldson Hanna, the principal investigator. /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/128939/u201cWe/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/128939/u2019ll be using a suite of instruments on a lander and rover to study the domes/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/128939/u2019 makeup including the composition and properties of regolith and boulders and how lunar dust responds to the lander and rover as it explores the volcanic dome. There/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/128939/u2019s potentially a treasure trove of knowledge waiting to be discovered, which will not only help us inform future robotic and human exploration of the moon, but may also help us better understand the history of our own planet as well as other planets in the solar system./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/128939/u201d/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/128939/n