NASA adds a new destination for the Artemis mission to the Moon. They will explore the mysterious and enigmatic mound known as the Gruithuisen Dome.
The Gruithuisen Dome are two mounds named Mons Gruithuisen Gamma and Mons Gruithuisen Delta, which are north of the Gruithuisen crater on the Moon.
Current observations of these mounds show they appear different than the surrounding area. Quoted from the Jerusalem Post, scientists call the dome a type of volcano. It is known that there are a number of volcanoes all over the surface of the Moon.
These volcanoes, especially the Gruithuisen Dome, are thought to have been formed by magma rich in silica. This is important to know, because although the surrounding area is covered by the hardened remnants of ancient basaltic lava, which is watery and thin, compared to thicker silicate lava, which has a consistency closer to granite.
But this explanation is something that makes scientific sense. What makes no sense is how silicate magma could have formed on the Moon in the first place.
Silica volcanoes on Earth require two main ingredients to form: plate tectonics and water. The moon has neither. This means, based on our current understanding of how volcanoes work, it shouldn't be possible for silicate volcanoes to form on the Moon.
However, the Gruithuisen Dome was definitely there. So how did this happen? Scientists don't know about this yet, so NASA hopes to solve the mystery of the Gruithuisen Dome.
Artemis Mission
It is impossible to understand how the Gruithuisen Dome was formed without going there to see it. NASA has selected a new suite of scientific instruments to study the dome for the first time on a priority mission.
The instrument suite is the Lunar Vulkan Imaging and Spectroscopy Explorer (Lunar-VISE), which consists of five instruments, two of which are on the lander and three on the mobile rover.
Lunar-VISE's mission is to explore the top of one of the domes and analyze its peak. Studying this will help solve the mystery of how this seemingly impossible dome formed. That understanding could help NASA plan future robotic and human missions to the Moon.
In particular, because the dome is volcanic, this means there is likely to be a large concentration of heat-producing material. If we understand this better, then that heat could be a valuable resource for long-term lunar missions.
The scientists behind Lunar-VISE are Kerri Donaldson Hanna and Adrienne Dove of the University of Central Florida (UCF).
"There is a potential treasure trove of knowledge waiting to be discovered that will not only help us inform future robotic and human exploration of the Moon, but can also help us better understand the history of our own planet and that of other planets in the Solar System," said Donaldson. Hannah.
This is just one of several scientific endeavors that NASA hopes to achieve on the lunar surface as part of the Artemis mission. According to NASA, Lunar-VISE will be sent to the Moon in 2026.