As three Americans prepare to launch Wednesday night on the first crewed journey to the moon since 1972, a Tennessee Tech professor will be on the team that will later collect samples in the next phase – a moon landing mission in 2028.
Scientist Jeannette Luna said she will work from mission control in a science backroom to support the crew as they navigate the lunar surface.
“Oh, this is a dream come true,” Luna said. “I’ve enjoyed space exploration since I was a kid and I’ve always wanted to be a part of it and now I get to help humans decide how they’re going to return to the moon and what those missions will look like.”
Luna said her team will focus on geology science by examining the rocks astronauts encounter and deciding which samples should be brought back to Earth. The upcoming mission marks the first time in over 50 years that humans will travel to the moon, with a specific focus on the cold, icy and dark polar regions.
“So the South Pole has crust or the surface of the moon that is older than anything we’ve ever been able to sample in the solar system,” Luna said. “You know, the Earth has plate tectonics and that means that our crust continually is overturned over millions of years. On the moon, we can actually sample crust that has not been overturned and it tells us something about the deep history of the solar system.”
Luna said she helps create fundamental maps that the crew will use to safely walk around, avoid hazards and locate interesting features.
“I’m extremely humbled by the opportunity,” Luna said. “I love to share all of these moments with my students and I understand that for this generation, you know, this is the first time that so many of us will have seen humans do something so incredible, you know, walk again on the surface of the moon. So to get to be a part of that, to get to share it with my students, to get to share it at Tennessee Tech, it’s really just an incredible honor.”
Luna said she has been working toward this goal for the last decade, having first applied to join space missions in 2016. Her current research group includes students who are actively developing ideas and making maps to support the project.
“Yeah, so I’ll be joining this mission team as a scientist, but behind me also are all of my students in my research group,” Luna said. “And so they’ve been working hard on making maps and on developing their ideas and I think that’s very exciting because that’s the next generation that will continue to explore, you know, the moon and then ultimately on to Mars.”
The Artemis mission will rely on international cooperation and scientists worldwide to achieve its lunar exploration goals. The crew of four, three Americans and one Canadian, scheduled to launch at 6:24 p.m. Eastern.
Jeannette Luna serves as the Interim Assistant Dean for Research and Graduate Studies in the College of Arts and Sciences at Tennessee Tech.