The document discusses a proposed mission called Moon Diver that would send a robot to rappel down into a 100m wide and deep pit on the moon called the Tranquillitatis Pit to examine lava layers in the pit walls. Some key challenges of such a mission would be the extreme temperature swings between day and night, limited time on the surface due to the moon's 14 day day-night cycle, and hazardous lunar dust. While an exciting prospect, Moon Diver remains a conceptual mission that has not yet secured funding to become a reality.

1. Planning a Mission to Dive into the
Moon

6. So there I was…

7. Enter Issa Nesnas
and The Axel Rover

8. • First mission to venture below the surface of
another world
• First extreme terrain mission
• Advance scout for future human cave base
• Goes where no robot has gone before
• Persists longer than any other human artifact

9. In particular, the Tranquillitatis Pit, 100 m wide and 100 m deep, showed evidence for a cave
going back at least 20 meters
Even more exciting for planetary geologists was the discovery of a cross-section of fine-scale lava
layers in the pit walls. The goal of Moon Diver is to rappel down this pit and examine these
layers in cross-section

10. How to Make Your Mission a Reality
Have an idea
Find some like-minded individuals
See if it’s actually going to work
Find funding
Develop technologies
Submit to NASA
Succeed(??) K
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14. The Moon is covered in a layer of “shredded books”…

18. A Simple But Effective Instrument Suite
Instruments:
Cameras
Microscopic Multispectral Imager
Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer

21. What are the challenges that we face?
Extreme Temperatures: 250 degrees Fahrenheit
(120° C, 400 K) during the day; -208 degrees
Fahrenheit (-130° C, 140 K) at night.
Limited Time: A lunar day is only 14 Earth days
Dangerous Dust: Sharp, powdery, gets everywhere
Rappelling Down a Giant Moon Cliff into a
Mysterious Cavern

26. • Moon Diver: A Mission that Does Not
Exist, and May Never Exist
• Next chance to submit to NASA comes in
2023, for flight around 2029