PROSPECT is a comprehensive payload package developed by the European Space Agency which will support the extraction and analysis of lunar surface and subsurface samples as well as the acquisition of data from additional environmental sensors. The key elements of PROSPECT are the ProSEED drill and the ProSPA analytical laboratory. ProSEED will support the acquisition of cryogenic samples from depths up to 1 m and deliver them to the ProSPA instrument. ProSPA will receive and seal samples in miniaturized ovens, heat them, physically and chemically process the released volatiles, and analyze the obtained constituents via mass spectrometry using two types of spectrometers. Contextual information will be provided by cameras which will generate multi-spectral images of the drill working area and of acquired samples, and via temperature sensors and a permittivity sensor that are integrated in the drill rod. The package is designed for minimizing volatile loss from the sample between acquisition and analysis. Initially developed for a flight on the Russian Luna-27 mission, the payload package design was adapted for a more generic lander accommodation and will be flown on a lunar polar lander mission developed within the NASA Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program. PROSPECT targets science and exploration in lunar areas that might harbor deposits of volatiles, and also supports the demonstration of In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) techniques in the lunar environment. PROSPECT operations are designed to be automated to a significant degree but rely on operator monitoring during critical phases. Here, we report the PROSPECT flight design that will be built, tested, and qualified according to European space technology engineering standards before delivery to the lander provider for spacecraft integration. The package is currently in the hardware manufacturing and integration phase with a target delivery to the NASA-selected CLPS lander provider in 2025.

Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) was launched in 2009 to study and map the Moon and is now completing its fifth extended science mission. The LRO (see Figure 1) hosts a payload of seven different scientific instruments. The Cosmic Ray Telescope for the Effects of Radiation instrument has characterized the lunar radiation environment and allowed scientists to determine potential impacts to astronauts and other life. The Diviner Lunar Radiometer Experiment (DLRE) has identified cold traps where ice could reside and mapped global thermophysical and mineralogical properties by measuring surface and subsurface temperatures. The Lyman Alpha Mapping Project has found evidence of exposed ice in south polar cold traps as well as global diurnal variations in hydration. The Lunar Exploration Neutron Detector has been used to create high-resolution maps of lunar hydrogen distribution and gather information about the neutron component of the lunar radiation environment. The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) is a system of three cameras [one wide-angle camera and two narrow-angle cameras (NACs)] mounted on the LRO that capture high-resolution black-and-white images and moderate resolution multispectral (seven-color band) images of the lunar surface. These images can be used, for example, to learn new details about the history of lunar volcanism or the present-day flux of impactors. The Miniature Radio Frequency (Mini-RF) instrument is an advanced synthetic aperture radar (SAR) that can probe surface and subsurface coherent rock contents to identify the polarization signature of ice in cold traps. The Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA) has been used to generate a high-resolution, 3D map of the Moon that serves as the most accurate geodetic framework available for co-locating LRO (and other lunar) data. The data produced by the LRO continue to revolutionize our scientific understanding of the Moon, and are essential to planning NASA's future human and robotic lunar missions.

Non -invasive potato defects detection has been demanded for sorting and grading purpose. Researches on the classification of the defects has been available, however, investigation on the severity level calculation is limited. For the detection of the common scab, it has been found that imaging in the infrared region provide an interesting characteristic that could distinguish defected area to normal area. Thus, investigations on this wavelength range is interesting to add more knowledge and for applications. In this research, the multispectral image has been obtained and investigated especially at three wavelengths (950, 1 150, 1 600 nm). Image pre-processing and pseudo-color conversion techniques were explored to enhance the contrast between defects, normal background skin area and soil deposits. Results show that external defects, such as common scab and some mechanical damage types, appear brighter in the near infrared region, especially at 1600 nm against the normal skin background. It has been found that pseudo-color images conversion provides more information regarding type if surface characteristics compared to grayscale single imaging. Image segmentation using pseudo-color images after multiplication operation preprocessing could be used for common scab and mechanical damage detection excluding soil deposits with a Dice Sorensen coefficient of 0.64. In addition, image segmentation using single image at 1 600 nm shown relatively better results with Dice Sorensen coefficient of 0.72 with note that thick soil deposits will also be segmented. Defect severity level evaluation had an R2 correlation of 0.84 against standard measurements of severity. (c) 2022 China Agricultural University. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of KeAi. This is an open access article under the CC BY -NC -ND license (http://creativecommons. org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Since leaving Vera Rubin ridge (VRr), the Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover has traversed though the phyllosilicate-bearing region, Glen Torridon, and the overlying Mg-sulfate-bearing strata, with excursions onto the Greenheugh Pediment and Amapari Marker Band. Each of these distinct geologic units were investigated using Curiosity's Mast Camera (Mastcam) multispectral instrument which is sensitive to iron-bearing phases and some hydrated minerals. We used Mastcam spectra, in combination with chemical data from Chemistry and Mineralogy, Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer, and Chemistry and Camera instruments, to assess the variability of rock spectra and interpret the mineralogy and diagenesis in the clay-sulfate transition and surrounding regions. We identify four new classes of rock spectra since leaving VRr; two are inherent to dusty and pyroxene-rich surfaces on the Amapari Marker Band; one is associated with the relatively young, basaltic, Greenheugh Pediment; and the last indicates areas subjected to intense aqueous alteration with an amorphous Fe-sulfate component, primarily in the clay-sulfate transition region. To constrain the Mg-sulfate detection capabilities of Mastcam and aid in the analyses of multispectral data, we also measured the spectral response of mixtures with phyllosilicates, hydrated Mg-sulfate, and basalt in the laboratory. We find that hydrated Mg-sulfates are easily masked by other materials, requiring >= 90 wt.% of hydrated Mg-sulfate to exhibit a hydration signature in Mastcam spectra, which places constraints on the abundance of hydrated Mg-sulfates along the traverse. Together, these results imply significant compositional changes along the traverse since leaving VRr, and they support the hypothesis of wet-dry cycles in the clay-sulfate transition. The clay-sulfate transition in Gale crater has long been hypothesized to record an environmental shift from warm and wet to cold and dry. The paleolake that once filled Gale crater allowed phyllosilicates to form. As Mars became cooler and drier, sulfates were able to precipitate above the phyllosilicates. This mineralogic transition has been observed in other places on Mars, implying a global environmental change. Different hydrated Mg-sulfates can reveal characteristics of the paleoenvironment at the time of deposition and thus clarify the geologic history. The goals of this study are to (a) characterize potential sulfate-bearing rocks with the Curiosity rover's multispectral imaging instrument, Mastcam; and (b) constrain Mastcam's Mg-sulfate detection threshold using laboratory techniques. We identify three new rock spectral classes inherent to the clay-sulfate transition and one new class associated with the Greeneheugh pediment. Our laboratory results indicate that it would be challenging to detect Mg-sulfate with Mastcam unless it is nearly pure. New rock spectral classes correspond to unique geologic units. One supports the hypothesis of wet-dry cycles in the clay-sulfate transition Cross instrument analyses imply that Mg- and Fe- sulfates are significant in the amorphous component of the clay-sulfate transition region The spectral signature of hydrated Mg-sulfates in visible to near infrared reflectance spectra are easily masked by phyllosilicates and/or basalt