Speaker 1: Let's say good morning now to Associate Administrator for the
Speaker 1: NASA Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters, Niki Fox.
Speaker 2: Good morning, Niki, Good morning.
Speaker 1: So Nikki, it's not only door Dash and grubhub that
Speaker 1: does deliveries. NASA does deliveries too, except they just DoD.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's right, that's right actually, to be to.
Speaker 2: Be fair, it's our it's our industry partners that are
Speaker 2: doing the deliveries.
Speaker 3: We are we are being delivered by them. So we're
Speaker 3: very excited.
Speaker 1: Okay, so tell us you're saying, so you've got somebody
Speaker 1: else is actually uh flying there, but it's got NASA
Speaker 1: gear on the on the payload basically absolutely.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Through our Commercial.
Speaker 2: Payload Delivery Service basically or clips Commercial Lunar Payloads, we
Speaker 2: we actually are working very closely with our industry partners
Speaker 2: enabling them to build the actual landers. They are you know,
Speaker 2: they're responsible for getting the launch and every thing arranged,
Speaker 2: and we provide the payloads and also kind of you know,
Speaker 2: the delivery location that we want to go to and
Speaker 2: then they are taking us there and taking us right
Speaker 2: now with the two that are going there to very
Speaker 2: different locations on the moon.
Speaker 3: So it's a very exciting time. Okay.
Speaker 1: So Nikki, tell us, first of all, tell us, we've
Speaker 1: got two deliveries going, and one of them gets there tomorrow,
Speaker 1: right or no, Sunday, Sunday.
Speaker 3: Yep, that's correct. One of them gets there on Sunday.
Speaker 2: And that is Firefly, our blue ghost one lander.
Speaker 3: So really excited. That is that is.
Speaker 2: Heading there on track to do their landing attempt on
Speaker 2: Sunday morning.
Speaker 3: And that is that is actually going to an interesting region.
Speaker 2: That is, it's the site of an asteroid impact and
Speaker 2: so when the you know, an ancient asteroid impact kind
Speaker 2: of flooded that area with lava and so it's a
Speaker 2: very different kind.
Speaker 3: Of of of solus.
Speaker 2: Sorry, you can tell I'm a helif this different kind
Speaker 2: of lunar sort of surface there. And then the other one,
Speaker 2: the Intuitive Machines, is going about five degrees off the
Speaker 2: south pole of the Moon, so very different area, and
Speaker 2: it's landing on a sort of our high high ridge there.
Speaker 2: It's about the size of Delaware, about the height of
Speaker 2: Mount McKinley, and so a very different area.
Speaker 3: And that one is going to be looking for water
Speaker 3: and other volatiles on the moon.
Speaker 1: Okay, And so though it sounds like they're going to
Speaker 1: have two very different missions because the one that's going
Speaker 1: to be near the south pole is looking for water,
Speaker 1: and what's the one the Firefly Blue Ghost mission one
Speaker 1: where what is the goal of that?
Speaker 2: Uh, there's several goals, but you know, largely speaking, it's
Speaker 2: really characterizing what the regless or what the what the
Speaker 2: lunar surface does during you know, when when you actually
Speaker 2: land on it, like does it does it kick up?
Speaker 3: How is the dust kicked up? What does that look
Speaker 3: like as you're landing.
Speaker 2: Also got instruments that look at kind of how sticky
Speaker 2: the the regarless.
Speaker 3: Is or the you know, the lunar surface, the lunar
Speaker 3: dust is.
Speaker 2: We know from the Apollo missions that you know it's
Speaker 2: stuck to the spacesuits, et cetera. And you know, we're
Speaker 2: just going to figure out like how sticky, how tacky
Speaker 2: it is. And then it also has some technology that's
Speaker 2: looking at whether or not you can actually clean the
Speaker 2: dust off the surface.
Speaker 3: You know, if you.
Speaker 2: Think about sending great scientific equipment, great life support systems,
Speaker 2: and then as you keep doing landings and you keep
Speaker 2: kicking up the dust, you want to be able to
Speaker 2: clean off those surfaces to keep everything pristine, and so
Speaker 2: sort of.
Speaker 3: Doing that that kind of early.
Speaker 2: Testing of that, so as we you know, land more
Speaker 2: and more on the Moon, we can actually protect the
Speaker 2: environment around the landers. Also great science experiments on there
Speaker 2: looking at looking at the sun in X rays and
Speaker 2: doing some very sort of precise location like the sort
Speaker 2: of navigation precision locations with that lander as well.
Speaker 1: Okay, so Nikki, you've got me really interested in the
Speaker 1: dust because you think about it kicking up and I
Speaker 1: remember like when when our troops first went over to
Speaker 1: Operation Desert Storm and they were dealing with the sand.
Speaker 1: They were literally using nylons to cover some of the
Speaker 1: weapons to keep the sand out. So I'm wondering it's
Speaker 1: it's sort of like you're finding out what it does
Speaker 1: so when there are future missions, you know how to
Speaker 1: deal with it. Is that accurate?
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's actually a really great way of putting it.
Speaker 2: You know, you want to understand what the what the
Speaker 2: material or you know, the dust is made of, like
Speaker 2: you know, is it how and really it is, how
Speaker 2: sticky is it? How much will it stick to surfaces?
Speaker 2: And then you want to know how to protect those surfaces,
Speaker 2: so that that's exactly right, okay.
Speaker 1: And so then Nikki, let's look look to the future.
Speaker 1: We're doing this because what is what's the goal? Is
Speaker 1: it to put a station on the Moon? Is it
Speaker 1: to make us stop over, to like have people on
Speaker 1: the Moon all the time, or just to keep experimenting
Speaker 1: up there?
Speaker 3: Oh, a little bit of everything. I mean set the
Speaker 3: the ultimate goal is to set up a sort of
Speaker 3: a sustainable.
Speaker 2: Lunar economy for our US companies, so that you know,
Speaker 2: they they they have a sustainable Your delivery services, as
Speaker 2: you know, is one thing, but also instruments on the moon,
Speaker 2: payloads going to the Moon, large cargo delivery, you know,
Speaker 2: on the intuitive machines. We have a hopper which is
Speaker 2: a little bit like a helicopter that you know, can
Speaker 2: actually sort of do mapping out of the terrain for us, so,
Speaker 2: you know, really interesting things. But to be able to
Speaker 2: set up that sustained presence on the Moon, and then
Speaker 2: to to to be able to look after our astronauts,
Speaker 2: and of course not only just on the surface of
Speaker 2: the Moon, but.
Speaker 3: As we then turn our attention to.
Speaker 2: Sort of further out in the Solar system, we think
Speaker 2: of the moon kind of lighting our way to Mars
Speaker 2: as we you know, we are ready to support crude
Speaker 2: missions eventually to Mars, you know, looking at the technology,
Speaker 2: looking at the various things that you want to get
Speaker 2: ready to be able to support those long term, long
Speaker 2: duration trips to Mars, and then of course exploration on
Speaker 2: the surface of Mars, which I personally could not be
Speaker 2: any more excited about.
Speaker 1: And do we have any kind of a timeline on
Speaker 1: when that might come to fruition?
Speaker 2: I mean, I think you know, we're certainly ready to
Speaker 2: support any opportunities that we have to go, either to
Speaker 2: the Moon or to autun Mars. I think you'd have
Speaker 2: to talk to the various providers about their timelines for
Speaker 2: actually getting the equipment there.
Speaker 3: But NATA Science is ready to go.
Speaker 1: Okay, and Nick, thank you. One last question for you.
Speaker 1: The first landing is supposed to happen on Sunday, and
Speaker 1: the next one I believe is on March sixth and greth.
Speaker 1: Where can people watch this?
Speaker 2: Oh yes, you can, thank you so much for asking.
Speaker 2: You can watch it on Nataplus is our streaming service,
Speaker 2: and we will be streaming all of the information live.
Speaker 2: So actually that the landing, but also lots of information
Speaker 2: about the two missions, and of course if you want to.
Speaker 3: Know more about it ahead.
Speaker 2: If you can't wait till Sunday for the landing, you
Speaker 2: can go to NASA dot gov, where you'll find information
Speaker 2: about all things NATA, or follow us on social media.
Speaker 2: We are doing updates all the time on these both
Speaker 2: of these missions. Plus we also have a lunar trail Blazer,
Speaker 2: which is an orbiter that also launched with with Intuitive
Speaker 2: machines this week and also upcoming.
Speaker 3: We've got some launches from.
Speaker 2: The West Coast this week as well, one studying the Sun,
Speaker 2: one studying the galaxies, and one studying the Aurora.
Speaker 3: So lots of exciting stuff happening in NASA sciet.
Speaker 1: My goodness, they're keeping you busy, Nikki. Thank you so
Speaker 1: much for the information. I love talking about space stuff.
Speaker 1: It's just and you can you can hear your excitement
Speaker 1: about it, and I love that too. Thank you so much,
Speaker 1: Nikki Fox at NASA Headquarters. We appreciate it.
Speaker 3: Thank you all right, take care