View source for PRIME-1

{{Short description|NASA lunar project}}
{{Use American English|date=November 2021}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2021}}
'''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)|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 January 2025 as part of the [[Commercial Lunar Payload Services]] (CLPS) program on the [[IM-2|Nova-C IM-2 mission]].<ref name="sn-20240912-im2">{{cite web |last=David |first=Leonard |url=https://spacenews.com/ice-hunting-lunar-trailblazer-im2-nearly-ready-january-2025-launch/ |title=Ice-hunting Lunar Trailblazer and IM-2 nearly ready for January 2025 launch |work=[[SpaceNews]] |date=12 September 2024 |access-date=12 September 2024}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=NASA - NSSDCA - Spacecraft - Details |url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=PRIME-1#:~:text=The%20mission%20is%20scheduled%20to,case%20Intuitive%20Machines,%20that%20provides |access-date=2023-01-19 |website=nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov}}</ref>
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:
* The Regolith and Ice Drill for Exploring New Terrain (TRIDENT): TRIDENT will drill up to three feet deep, extracting [[lunar regolith]], or soil, up to the surface. The instrument can drill in multiple segments, pausing and retracting to deposit cuttings on the surface after each depth increment.
* Mass Spectrometer observing lunar operations (MSolo): This modified-for-spaceflight, commercial-off-the-shelf [[mass spectrometer]] will evaluate the drill cuttings for water and other chemical compounds. Soil samples from multiple depths will be analyzed.<ref>[https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/game_changing_development/projects/PRIME-1 Polar Resources Ice Mining Experiment-1] {{PD-notice}}</ref>
A version of TRIDENT and MSolo was to be used on NASA's cancelled [[VIPER (rover)|VIPER]] rover in the search for water ice.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Malik |first=Tariq |date=2020-10-23 |title=NASA picks Intuitive Machines to land an ice-mining drill on the moon |url=https://www.space.com/nasa-picks-intuitive-machines-prime-1-ice-mining-lander |access-date=2024-05-17 |website=Space.com}}</ref>
== References ==
{{Portal|Spaceflight}}
{{Reflist|30em}}
[[Category:2025 in spaceflight]]
[[Category:Missions to the Moon]]
{{Moon-stub}}