Endurance Science Workshop 2023 Final Report

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Keane, James Tuttle, Cohen, Barbara, Crow, Carolyn, Greenhagen, Benjamin, Jolliff, Bradley, Liu, Yang, Shearer, Charles, Tikoo, Sonia, Valencia, Sarah
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Keane, James Tuttle
Cohen, Barbara
Crow, Carolyn
Greenhagen, Benjamin
Jolliff, Bradley
Liu, Yang
Shearer, Charles
Tikoo, Sonia
Valencia, Sarah
author_facet Keane, James Tuttle
Cohen, Barbara
Crow, Carolyn
Greenhagen, Benjamin
Jolliff, Bradley
Liu, Yang
Shearer, Charles
Tikoo, Sonia
Valencia, Sarah
contents Endurance is a mission concept to explore and ultimately return samples from the Moon's largest and oldest impact basin, South Pole-Aitken (SPA). SPA holds the answers to many outstanding planetary science questions, including the earliest impact bombardment of the Solar System and the evolution of the Moon's interior. Endurance would address these questions by traversing 2,000 kilometers across the lunar farside, collecting samples, and delivering those samples to Artemis astronauts for return to Earth. Endurance was identified as the highest priority strategic mission for NASA's Lunar Discovery and Program in the recent Planetary Science and Astrobiology Decadal Survey. This report summarizes the results from the first public workshop about the concept. Major findings include: (1) Endurance is an exciting concept that would address long-standing, high-priority lunar and planetary science questions, and the community is ready for it. (2) Endurance's sample science objectives are achievable, although they would require coordinated analysis techniques and numerous diverse samples. (3) Geologic context is essential for addressing Endurance's science objectives. (4) While Endurance's objectives center on sample return, Endurance's long traverse would enable a variety of additional transformative science investigations. (5) Endurance is an ambitious mission that would be enabled and enhanced by investing in developing key technologies now. (6) Endurance should strive to include more diverse perspectives in its formulation, particularly from early-career scientists and engineers who will ultimately operate the rover and analyze the samples. Endurance is early in its formulation and the next major activity will be a Science Definition Team (SDT). It is expected that this report and the findings therein may be useful input to the Endurance SDT.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2502_07831
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Endurance Science Workshop 2023 Final Report
Keane, James Tuttle
Cohen, Barbara
Crow, Carolyn
Greenhagen, Benjamin
Jolliff, Bradley
Liu, Yang
Shearer, Charles
Tikoo, Sonia
Valencia, Sarah
Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics
Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
Endurance is a mission concept to explore and ultimately return samples from the Moon's largest and oldest impact basin, South Pole-Aitken (SPA). SPA holds the answers to many outstanding planetary science questions, including the earliest impact bombardment of the Solar System and the evolution of the Moon's interior. Endurance would address these questions by traversing 2,000 kilometers across the lunar farside, collecting samples, and delivering those samples to Artemis astronauts for return to Earth. Endurance was identified as the highest priority strategic mission for NASA's Lunar Discovery and Program in the recent Planetary Science and Astrobiology Decadal Survey. This report summarizes the results from the first public workshop about the concept. Major findings include: (1) Endurance is an exciting concept that would address long-standing, high-priority lunar and planetary science questions, and the community is ready for it. (2) Endurance's sample science objectives are achievable, although they would require coordinated analysis techniques and numerous diverse samples. (3) Geologic context is essential for addressing Endurance's science objectives. (4) While Endurance's objectives center on sample return, Endurance's long traverse would enable a variety of additional transformative science investigations. (5) Endurance is an ambitious mission that would be enabled and enhanced by investing in developing key technologies now. (6) Endurance should strive to include more diverse perspectives in its formulation, particularly from early-career scientists and engineers who will ultimately operate the rover and analyze the samples. Endurance is early in its formulation and the next major activity will be a Science Definition Team (SDT). It is expected that this report and the findings therein may be useful input to the Endurance SDT.
title Endurance Science Workshop 2023 Final Report
topic Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics
Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2502.07831