The POT has announced an exciting mission within the Artemis Program that aims to study the volcanic terrain of the Moon. This new scientific burden, called DIMPLE (Dating an Irregular Mare Patch with a Lunar Explorer), will focus on investigate the Ina Irregular Mare Patcha mound discovered in 1971 by orbital images from Apollo 15.
DIMPLE is the result of the third annual PRISM (Payloads and Investigative Investigations on the Surface of the Moon) Call for Proposals. Through the CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative, this call allowed proponents to choose a specific landing site for high-priority lunar science research.
As the US space agency explains, the DIMPLE mission will play a crucial role in advancing our knowledge of the Moon and, in turn, will provide valuable information on the evolution of the solar system as a whole.
The instrument set will use a rover provided by CLPSa collection grip instrument, and a spectrometer to analyze the age and composition of samples collected from the volcanic terrain.
Objective: Solve Mare’s objectives
By determining whether the irregular patches of Mare, the Moon’s volcanic mound, formed from recent or ancient volcanic processes, DIMPLE will help shed light on the geochemical state of the Moon over time.
If the volcanic activity turns out to be geologically recent, this would imply that the lunar mantle was hotter than initially thoughtor that radioactive elements contributed to the eruptions continuing longer.
On the other hand, if the eruptions that created this area turn out to be older, this would have significant implications for understanding the history of Earth and other planets in the solar systemas well as to reassess the age and evolution of lunar craters.
The DIMPLE mission, with a cost cap of $50 millionis expected to be delivered in the second quarter of 2027. NASA plans to issue a CLPS task order in 2024 to determine the launch services needed to carry out this exciting scientific exploration.