{"682801":{"#nid":"682801","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Georgia Tech Alumni Develop Device to Understand Moon\u2019s Water Content","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EWhen NASA\u2019s PRIME-1 Mission \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/athena-moon-lander-tips-over-intuitive-machines-mission\/\u0022\u003Elanded\u003C\/a\u003E on the moon in March, an Intuitive Machine\u2019s lander named Athena ended up on its side. The faulty landing meant the instruments couldn\u2019t drill into the moon to measure water and other resources, as intended. But the mission wasn\u2019t a total loss: PRIME-1\u2019s The Regolith Ice Drill for Exploring New Terrain (TRIDENT) and Mass Spectrometer Observing Lunar Operations (MSOLO)\u0026nbsp;could still operate and gather some data. The mission, led by Georgia Tech alumni who collaborated with Georgia Tech faculty, is already pivotal to future NASA missions.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/mission\/polar-resources-ice-mining-experiment-1-prime-1\/\u0022\u003EPRIME-1\u003C\/a\u003E, or Polar Resources Ice Mining Experiment-1, is a combination tool of two instruments: TRIDENT and MSOLO. PRIME-1\u2019s objective is to help scientists determine resources available on the moon, with the eventual goal of sending humans to live there. TRIDENT is a space-rated drill designed and built by Honeybee Robotics that can extract lunar soil up to 3 feet deep. MSOLO is a mass spectrometer that can analyze TRIDENT\u2019s soil samples for water and other critical volatiles. Together, this data can show how viable living on and mining from the moon could be.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETwo Georgia Tech alumna, \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/technology.nasa.gov\/blog-MEET-THE-INVENTOR-Jackie-Quinn\u0022\u003EJackie Williams Quinn\u003C\/a\u003E and \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/science.nasa.gov\/people\/janine-captain\/\u0022\u003EJanine E. \u0026nbsp;Captain\u003C\/a\u003E, led the PRIME-1 team for NASA. They had help with computer modeling of PRIME-1\u2019s mass spectrometer data from Georgia Tech\u2019s Regents\u2019 Professor \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/chemistry.gatech.edu\/people\/thomas-orlando\u0022\u003EThom Orlando\u003C\/a\u003E and Senior Research Scientist Brant Jones in the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/chemistry.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESchool of Chemistry and Biochemistry\u003C\/a\u003E.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EGeorgia Tech to the Moon\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech\u2019s expertise influenced all areas of developing PRIME-1, but perhaps their biggest contribution was the collaboration across disciplines.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EQuinn, a civil engineering graduate, wrote the initial proposal. She also managed TRIDENT\u2019s development, through a contract with Honeybee Robotics, ensuring it was also built to operate in the harsh lunar environment (a process known as ruggedizing). The team worked with Honeybee\u2019s Jameil Bailey, fellow Tech alumnus.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ECaptain, the MSOLO principal investigator and chemistry Ph.D. graduate, never planned to work at NASA. But her advisor, Orlando, got her interested.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWhat drew me to NASA\u2019s In-Situ Resource Utilization team is that I could apply the instrumentation techniques that I learned in my Ph.D. \u0026nbsp;to measuring vital things like oxygen on the moon,\u201d Captain said.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ERuggedization Redux\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWhen it was confirmed in 2008 the moon had water, NASA wondered if humans could one day live there. Having a functional mass spectrometer on the moon was paramount to determining where the water was and how much of it existed. Captain\u2019s team modified a commercial mass spectrometer and tested it in a harsh environment comparable to the moon: Hawaii\u2019s dormant shield volcano, Mauna Kea. Once they demonstrated the mission operation in this environment, they worked to ruggedize an existing one manufactured by instrumentation company INFICON. The team worked with INFICON and through lab tests, they showed that all components of the mass spectrometer functioned in a lunar vacuum environment. \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn Orlando\u2019s lab, his team experimented with lunar material to determine how water interacts with lunar soil. From there, they created a theoretical model that simulated how much water they might find from what PRIME-1 sampled. \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cTo create the model, we used the data of how water sticks to the lunar surface \u2014 from controlled experiments carried out in our ultra-high vacuum chambers at Georgia Tech,\u201d Orlando said. \u201cWe approached the problem from a surface physics point of view in these lab experiments, but then in our model, we were able to connect to the actual mission activity.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOnce PRIME-1 hardware validation testing was finished, NASA was ready to launch. \u0026nbsp;That\u2019s when things got hairy.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe don\u0027t fully understand everything that happened during the landing, but the fact that PRIME-1 was fully functional is pretty amazing,\u201d Captain said. \u201cWe got the data. It was so cool to know that all this work we did was worth it.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMoon Milestones\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAlthough they didn\u2019t get the chance to drill into the moon as planned, they can still analyze the data PRIME-1 pulled from the lunar atmosphere. This data includes how the spacecraft may have contaminated the local atmosphere.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cPRIME-1 was the only instrument that got to fully run and check out everything because when the lander fell over, the instrument was on top,\u201d Quinn noted. \u201cThey were able to extend the drill all the way out a meter. It was drilling into empty space, but we were able to show that the drill got the signal from Earth, fully extended, and was able to auger and percuss. We were also able to fully operate MSOLO and gather data on gases coming off the lander in its final resting orientation.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EThe mass spectrometer and ice drill will be crucial to future NASA missions.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"The mass spectrometer and ice drill will be crucial to future NASA missions. "}],"uid":"34541","created_gmt":"2025-06-16 20:37:19","changed_gmt":"2025-12-31 17:36:23","author":"Tess Malone","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2025-06-16T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2025-06-16T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"677238":{"id":"677238","type":"image","title":"54370792577_4e391512ec_k.jpg","body":"\u003Cp\u003EAthena landed on its side with MSOLO glowing. \u0026nbsp;[Image courtesy of Intuitive Machines]\u003C\/p\u003E","created":"1750106384","gmt_created":"2025-06-16 20:39:44","changed":"1750106384","gmt_changed":"2025-06-16 20:39:44","alt":"Athena landed on its side with MSOLO glowing. ","file":{"fid":"261119","name":"54370792577_4e391512ec_k.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/06\/16\/54370792577_4e391512ec_k.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/06\/16\/54370792577_4e391512ec_k.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":135656,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2025\/06\/16\/54370792577_4e391512ec_k.jpg?itok=TMW2a0Go"}}},"media_ids":["677238"],"groups":[{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"},{"id":"367481","name":"SEI Energy"},{"id":"1280","name":"Strategic Energy Institute"}],"categories":[{"id":"144","name":"Energy"}],"keywords":[{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"},{"id":"186858","name":"go-sei"},{"id":"187582","name":"go-ibb"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39531","name":"Energy and Sustainable Infrastructure"},{"id":"194566","name":"Sustainable Systems"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ETess Malone, Senior Research Writer\/Editor\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003Etess.malone@gatech.edu\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}