PRIME-1 explained

Polar Resources Ice Mining Experiment-1 (PRIME-1) is a robotic NASA experiment that is designed to search for water ice on the Moon at a permanently shadowed location near Shackleton Crater, close to the lunar south pole. The 36-kilogram (80 lb) PRIME-1 payload is scheduled for launch on a Falcon 9 in late 2024[1] as part of the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program on the Nova-C IM-2 mission.[2]

If successfully deployed, PRIME-1 will be the first attempt to show the feasibility of efforts on the lunar surface "to generate products with local materials," a process formally termed as in situ resource utilization (ISRU). Additionally, this will be NASA's first attempt to robotically sample and analyze lunar ice below the surface. PRIME-1 is composed of two components, both of which will be mounted to a commercial lunar lander:

A version of TRIDENT and MSolo was to be used on NASA's cancelled VIPER rover in the search for water ice.[4]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: NASA - NSSDCA - Spacecraft - Details . 2023-01-19 . nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov.
  2. http://www.parabolicarc.com/2021/07/29/apollo-to-artemis-drilling-on-the-moon/ Apollo to Artemis: Drilling on the Moon
  3. https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/game_changing_development/projects/PRIME-1 Polar Resources Ice Mining Experiment-1
  4. Web site: Malik . Tariq . 2020-10-23 . NASA picks Intuitive Machines to land an ice-mining drill on the moon . 2024-05-17 . Space.com.