The Lunar Polar Hydrogen Mapper (LunaH-Map) Mission

The Lunar Polar Hydrogen Mapper (LunaH-Map) mission will map hydrogen enrichments within permanently shadowed regions at the lunar south pole using a miniature neutron spectrometer. While hydrogen enrichments have been identified regionally from previous orbital missions, the spatial extent of these regions are often below the resolution of the neutron instruments that have flown on lunar missions. LunaH-Map will enter into an elliptical, low altitude perseline orbit which will enable the mission to spatially isolate and constrain the hydrogen enrichments within permanently shadowed regions. LunaH-Map will use a solid iodine ion propulsion system, X-Band radio communications through the NASA Deep Space Network, star tracker, C&DH and EPS systems from Blue Canyon Technologies, solar arrays from MMA Designs, LLC, mission design and navigation by KinetX. Spacecraft systems design, integration, qualification, test and mission operations are performed by Arizona State University

LunaH-Map: Revealing Lunar Water with a New Radiation Sensor Array

A new type of neutron and gamma-ray spectrometer called the Miniature Neutron Spectrometer (Mini-NS) has been developed, assembled, qualified and delivered as part of the Lunar Polar Hydrogen Mapper (LunaH-Map) cubesat mission. The LunaH-Map spacecraft is currently manifested as a secondary payload on the Space Launch System (SLS) Artemis-1 rocket. LunaH-Map will deploy from Artemis-1 and enter a low altitude perilune elliptical orbit around the Moon. The Mini-NS will measure the lunar epithermal neutron albedo, and measurements around perilune will be used to produce maps of hydrogen enrichments and depletions across the lunar South Pole region including both within and outside of permanently shadowed regions (PSRs). The Min-NS was designed to achieve twice the epithermal neutron count rate of the Lunar Prospector Neutron Spectrometer (LP-NS). The instrument response was characterized through the collection of pre-flight neutron counting data with a Cf-252 neutron source at Arizona State University across hundreds of power cycles, as well as across the expected temperature range. The instrument spatial response was characterized at the Los Alamos National Laboratories (LANL) Neutron Free In-Air Facility. The LunaH-Map Mini-NS was designed to fit within the cubesat form-factor and uses two detectors with eight sensor heads that can be operated independently. For future missions with different science goals that can be achieved with epithermal neutron detection, the number of Mini-NS sensor heads can easily be modified without requiring a complete re-design and re-qualification

Reef accessibility impairs the protection of sharks

Reef sharks are declining world‐wide under ever‐increasing fishing pressure, with potential consequences on ecosystem functioning. Marine protected areas (MPAs) are currently one of the management tools used to counteract the pervasive impacts of fishing. However, MPAs in which reef sharks are abundant tend to be located in remote and underexploited areas, preventing a fair assessment of management effectiveness beyond remoteness from human activities. Here, we determine the conditions under which MPAs can effectively protect sharks along a wide gradient of reef accessibility, from the vicinity of a regional capital towards remote areas, using 385 records from baited remote underwater video systems and 2,790 underwater visual censuses performed in areas open to fishing and inside 15 MPAs across New Caledonia (South‐Western Pacific). We show that even one of the world's oldest (43 years), largest (172 km2) and most restrictive (no‐entry) MPA (Merlet reserve) on coral reefs has between 17.3% and 45.3% fewer shark species and between 37.2% and 79.8% fewer shark abundance than remote areas in a context where sharks are not historically exploited. On coral reefs situated at less than 1 hr of travel time from humans, shark populations are so low in abundance (less than 0.05 individuals per 1,000 m2) that their functional roles are severely limited. Synthesis and applications. Remote areas are the last sanctuaries for reef sharks, providing a new baseline from which to evaluate human impacts on the species. However, there is no equivalent close to human activities even in large, old and strongly restrictive marine protected areas. As such sharks deserve strong protection efforts. The large, no‐entry marine protected areas, close to humans, offer limited benefits for reef shark populations, but provide more realistic conservation targets for managers of human‐dominated reefs. The exclusion of human activities on a sufficiently large area is key to protect reef shark populations. However, this strategy remains difficult to apply in many countries critically depending on reef resources for food security or livelihood

Mission to Psyche: Including Undergraduates and the Public on the Journey to a Metal World

Abstract The NASA Psyche mission’s program to engage university undergraduates and the public in the mission is inspired by and built upon the extensive foundation of public engagement, educational outreach activities, and expertise of NASA and mission partner institutions. The program leverages the enthusiasm and contributions of undergraduates nationwide to the benefit of the mission, the students and their institutions and communities, and the broader public. Psyche Student Collaborations consists of four main programs, two (Psyche Capstone and Psyche Inspired) are available solely to undergraduates enrolled at universities or community colleges in the United States and its territories and two (Innovation Toolkit free online courses and Science Outreach Interns and Docents) invite broader participation by engaging the talents and creativity of undergraduate interns to help create content and events to reach the public and lifelong learners. Together, these offerings provide multiple entry points and a spectrum of intensity of experiences, numbers of participants, disciplinary diversity, and mode of delivery. Involving undergraduates in all phases of the program supports the development of the next generation of explorers, contributes to the nation’s workforce preparation, and complements NASA’s existing undergraduate offerings by providing long-term opportunities for students to participate with the mission through established postsecondary education structures like capstone courses