Moon4You: a first Dutch footprint on the moon
conference paper
Moon4You is an initiative led by the Dutch Organisation for Applied Scientific Research TNO, with partners from industry and universities in the Netherlands that aims to provide a combined Raman/LIBS instrument as scientific payload for lunar exploration missions, and specifically for Odyssey Moon's MoonOne mission, slated for launch in the second half of 2012. It is the first time that Raman spectroscopy and LIBS (Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy) are combined into a single miniaturised instrument with minimum mass, volume and use of resources and can deliver data-products almost instantly. These characteristics make it the next-generation instrument for mineralogical and elemental (atomic) characterisation of lunar soil and rock samples, as well as for a host of other planetary exploration and terrestrial applications. This instrument would be the first Dutch 'footprint' on the surface of the Moon. We believe we will obtain the necessary investments for the Moon4You programme from the private sector by advocating the projected high media visibility of the Google Lunar X PRIZE, the potential of the combined Raman/LIBS technology for a large range of Space and on-Earth applications and the inspiration that the Moon4You programme will deliver for science education in the Netherlands.
Topics
TNO Identifier
364451
ISBN
9781615679089
Source title
60th International Astronautical Congress, IAC 2009, 12-16 October 2009, Daejeon, South Korea
Collation
9 p.
Pages
9697-9704
Files
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