WEBVTT FILE

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My name is Kelsey Young and I'm a
Planetary scientist at the NASA Goddard

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Space Flight Center and so switching
gears a little bit we're gonna talk

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about the moon for the next few minutes
and so what we're gonna do is talk about

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the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter which
is one of NASA's spacecrafts orbiting

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the moon right now and we're also going
to talk about how that Lunar

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Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft
pertains to NASA's ARTEMIS program which

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is NASA's plan right now to put the
first woman in the next man on the lunar

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surface so what we want to do first if
we could start this video over is take

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sort of a tour of the moon the reason
for doing that is kind of highlighting

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NASA's LRO or Lunar Reconnaissance
Orbiter spacecraft which has been

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orbiting the moon now for over a decade
collecting data from a number of

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different instrument suites so we're
gonna through the lens of those

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different instruments on the LRO
spacecraft take a look at what we're

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able to learn on the moon now as we
prepare to put people and boots on the

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ground back on the lunar surface it's a
really exciting time to be a lunar

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geologist so sort of our first stop on
the tour is the Oriental impact Basin so

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this is a really compelling impact
crater feature that we can learn a lot

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about through the lens of this GRAIL
data set or a data set looking at the

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gravity of the lunar surface so we can
actually peer through the subset and

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look at that gravity information which
can help us prepare for human

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spaceflight on the lunar surface we're
now going continuing on our tour to the

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lunar South Pole which is where we're
going to be sending astronauts as a part

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of the ARTEMIS program and those
highlighted areas are actually areas

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where we think there might be water ice
on the lunar surface which is where we

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want to send humans to look at how to
use that ice to potentially stay

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long-term so we're kind of zooming in to
the South Pole here and this is a really

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exciting time because hopefully we're
gonna have astronauts walking around in

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Shackleton crater or nearby on the South
Pole of the moon but we're zooming back

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away we're gonna return to talk about
the South Pole later in this talk as we

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again prepare for that ARTEMIS program
so what you're seeing here is again just

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like Oriental we're seeing big impact
craters and the biggest of them all is

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the South Pole
Achan basin on the lunar far side we

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don't know the exact age of this
structure but it's a really high

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priority science objective for when we
go back to the lunar

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surface so we're now continuing to spin
around moving away from the South Pole

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even though we'll be going back with
humans soon and we're gonna zoom in on

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another really compelling structure here
a lot of lunar science focuses on Impact

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cratering and Volcanology and one of
those big impact craters right here is

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the Tycho structure the LRO spacecraft
affords us really high-resolution

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pictures of the lunar surface which is
great for when we're preparing to send

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humans back to the surface and to give
you a sense for how high-resolution it

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is that Boulder right there on the top
of that central peak is a hundred meters

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across and we're able to get really
crisp resolution on it and those images

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are great for science and they're also
great to prep for human exploration

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continuing on we're gonna head to a more
volcanic feature called Aristarchus

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plateau where we see yes impact craters
but also some volcanic deposits as well

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this has long been a really compelling
science target for lunar science we have

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a lot left to learn about that and
through instrumentation on the LRO

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spacecraft it can give us a sense for
what that surface is made out of and we

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can start to pick apart how these
landscapes form but it's not just kind

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of going forward it's also learning a
lot about where we've already been we've

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learned a lot about lunar science and in
the last decade in the last decades and

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one example of that is zooming in on
where humans have been on the lunar

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surface and one of those places is the
Taurus Littrow valley which is where

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astronauts explore the lunar surface
through the Apollo 17 mission so what

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you'll see here is data from the LRO
spacecraft so high you can actually see

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the traverses that the Apollo astronauts
took on the moon you see there are three

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e bas or spacewalks that they took here
and zooming in even further I love this

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you can actually see the lander where
the astronauts landed and you know of

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course left their their landing stage
there and as you traverse over here you

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can actually see the rover which is what
the astronauts used to of course drive

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around and explore on the lunar surface
we're hopefully going to be doing this

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again really really soon and one of our
last stops on the tour is actually

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heading up we've been to the South Pole
now we're heading to the North Pole and

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the North Pole is also a really
compelling science target we have a lot

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to learn about
potentially using volatile x' we might

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find therefore in situ resource
utilization and so you can see there's a

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lot of compelling science to be left on
the moon and the Lunar Reconnaissance

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Orbiter is a great way that can tell us
about what to expect through its whole

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host of diverse set of instruments so
we'll continue on here

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this is actually a crater on the lunar
far side and this is actually a data set

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that was taken before the Lunar
Reconnaissance Orbiter got to the moon

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so you can see it's pretty fuzzy we
really didn't have crisp data this is

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interesting scientifically right Lunar
Reconnaissance Orbiter gave us a lot in

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terms of the resolution of data we have
on the moon but think about planning a

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mission to the moon with people with
data sets like these it's really the

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data obtained by the Lunar
Reconnaissance Orbiter that enables us

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to plan for NASA's Artemis program here
is a picture of the same exact spot on

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the lunar surface with the data obtained
with the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter

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spacecraft so just to flip back and
forth there the LRO spacecraft enables

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us to answer these high-priority science
questions like the age of the South Pole

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lake and basin and allow us to also
prepare for when we're gonna want to

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send people there it can also not just
give us this this great visual imagery

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but other missions we've sent to the
lunar surface can allow us to peer

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beneath the surface so while we want to
use these photos and images to design

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traverse plans and to answer science
questions we also want to probe beneath

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the surface and the GRAIL mission
actually enabled us to get a look at the

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gravity of the lunar surface which helps
us understand how that how that moon

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evolved and also where it's going in the
future so here is actually a look at the

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Apollo 11 mission we just passed the
50th anniversary of that mission you can

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actually see each kind of stage of that
mission there and actually you can even

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see the boot tracks that Neil Armstrong
took on the lunar surface this really

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allows us to place the science
scientific samples the geology samples

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and even greater context than we ever
had before and allow us to really get a

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look at where they sampled and here's a
great example of looking at the Traverse

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of that Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin
took we're able to take those Apollo 11

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samples and understand even more about
them now that we know exactly where they

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went and
actly what the context of those samples

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are so you're able to see the crater
that Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin

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actually had to change last minute their
landing site because they had to skim

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right over the rim of that crater that
they didn't know was there because they

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didn't have data that like we're looking
at right now so just to give you another

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sense of the type of data that LRO is
able to collect obviously what you're

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noticing here is changing in the middle
of the screen there you see a bright

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flash and sort of a white spot up here
on the image that's actually a new

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impact crater that formed since the
lifetime of the Lunar Reconnaissance

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Orbiter orbiting the moon so the first
time it took a picture of this area that

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crater was not there the next time it
imaged that area the crater was there

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what this is telling us is in many ways
the moon is still an active place there

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are surface processes that are changing
the surface of this our nearest

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celestial neighbor in observable time
and we've observed hundreds of these new

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impact craters forming in the ten plus
years that LRO has been at the moon and

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what does this tell us well space is
still an active place also you don't

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want to be an astronaut that was
standing right underneath where that

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object hit the surface of the Moon right
so it's helping us to predict how often

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these small impact craters are formed on
the lunar surface and it also tells us

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something about the cratering process as
well as how to prepare for the type of

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hardware we want to design to explore
the lunar surface so the moon is a

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really dynamic place the Lunar
Reconnaissance Orbiter is helping us

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explore that here once again is the
Taurus Littrow valley so again this is

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the site where the Apollo 17 mission
visited the moon this is the last time

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we had astronauts on the moon and one
thing I kind of want to emphasize today

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is you know this is the last time we've
put boots on the ground on the lunar

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surface as I mentioned earlier NASA's
Artemis program is seeking to bring them

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back in fact today is NASA's Artemis
today I'm not sure if you guys saw that

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on social media or anything
NASA's Artemis Day is as kind of a way

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to bring attention to the ARTEMIS
program but what really happened today

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is the first time that the core stage of
the SLS rocket was assembled at the

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Michoud NASA Center
down in near New Orleans so today is

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NASA day and and and why or excuse me
today is NASA's ARTEMIS day and and why

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do we have ARTEMIS day well again I
think this is a great place to talk

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about it this is the last time we've had
people on the moon and and today a

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really big step was just taken to bring
us back and so with that lens in mind

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here is a picture boots on the ground
from that Taurus Littrow valley Apollo

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17 landing site so we just saw a picture
taken you know from one of the cameras

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on the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter
spacecraft and here is a picture taken

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from the ground this is astronaut Jack
Schmitt taking a sample on the lunar

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surface on the left side there you'll
see the lunar roving vehicle this is a

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small rover that the astronauts were
able to use to travel even greater

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distances away from their landing site
as well as to store samples and store

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sampling equipment I do a lot of
fieldwork here on earth I'm a field

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geologist by training I would love to
have a roving field assistant that would

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come with me on all my fieldwork to be
able to carry all of my equipment and

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especially those heavy rocks once I pick
them up so we learned a lot from this

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mission we learned a lot from all the
Apollo missions we especially learned a

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lot from Apollo 17 that guy right there
Jack Schmitt was a geologist prior to

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becoming an astronaut so we actually put
a scientist on the moon in this mission

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we learned a lot about how to sample on
the moon actually if you head over to

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that NASA booth but later you can
actually see some of the the hardware

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that we were able to not the exact
hardware that's a museum it's about

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mock-ups of the tools that we were able
to use on the Apollo on the lunar

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surface and Apollo and it was really you
know these missions that taught us a lot

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about the properties of the lunar
surface and and I can tell you that

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right now we're taking a lot of these
lessons learned that these of these

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astronauts taught us and we're applying
them to where we're going with the

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ARTEMIS program so this is kind of a
movie showing illumination conditions at

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the lunar South Pole again NASA's
ARTEMIS program is going to push the

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first woman and the next man on the
lunar surface and we're going to the

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South Pole so we don't know exactly the
x marks the spot on the lunar surface

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where these astronauts are going we do
know that it'll be near the South Pole

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and what these data are showing you is
actually the illumination conditions

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the pole and so you can see that we're
marching through the Year 2024 down here

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in 2024 is the year that we've been
charged with for when we want to put

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these astronauts on the surface and so
what you're seeing here is is kind of a

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time-lapse of what it will look like in
terms of illumination when we are able

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to put to put astronauts on the lunar
surface so just for a minute

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picture that you're one of those
astronauts you're landing on the lunar

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surface you want to do geology you want
to plant the flag you want to learn

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about all these science questions that
we've talked about that we're learning a

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lot about from the Lunar Reconnaissance
Orbiter the lighting conditions at the

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pole just given orbital dynamics and
where the moon is versus the Sun make it

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pretty complex to work at the South Pole
lighting can be a challenge even in the

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Apollo missions the astronauts noted
that the sort of semi oblique lighting

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angles that they were working with made
it hard to judge distance they couldn't

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tell how far they were from a site of
interest they knew that the crater rim

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they wanted to reach was just over there
but it looked a lot shorter than the

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distance actually was just because of
the way the light was playing over their

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landing site versus the lighting they're
used to operating in on the Earth's

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surface in training
the South Pole is is a different beast

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it's even more complex illumination will
be a challenge we're working on right

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now how to what kind of challenge that
will be how to train the astronauts to

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prepare them for that challenge how to
make sure the hardware can withstand

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that challenge and I really love this
image because right now scientists are

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preparing for how to do science in these
illumination conditions but more

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importantly the operators who are
designing Rover hardware and spacesuit

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hardware and training the astronauts and
how to operate in those conditions are

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looking at visuals just like this to
prepare us for what that exploration is

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going to look like so next time you're
kind of outside if you do field work or

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even if you just go on a hike imagine
trying to do that and you know execute

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your traverse plan in these really
really variable lighting conditions and

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I really just want to stress that the
Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter is the

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spacecraft that's really enabled us to
get these really great datasets that

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help tell us hey there's a lot of
science left to learn on the moon we've

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gone back and looked at the Apollo
landing sites in a lot greater detail

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and understood the samples that those
astronauts collected and placed them in

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even a higher resolution context than we
ever had before and I'm a you know I'm a

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geologist who thinks about science
integration into human spaceflight so

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hear a lot about field geology and I
especially care about doing field

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geology on the moon and so here we are
training astronauts designing Hardware

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designing sampling and science hardware
Institue analytical hardware but also

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the hardware that's going to keep our
astronauts alive in terms of Rover

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spacesuit technology sampling technology
and it's these kind of data sets they're

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gonna help get us there so again just to
reflect back you know we've seen a lot

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of amazing imagery of the moon amazing
data from the moon the Lunar

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Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft is
kind of what's helping us get there

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but we're looking forward to the future
and that's the ARTEMIS program like I

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mentioned today is ARTEMIS day and again
that means that the SLS rocket or the

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rocket that's going to launch astronauts
that will one day explore the moon has

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had its core stage assembled for the
first time so what that means is this is

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a massive many years in the making step
that really gets us one huge, huge, huge

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leap forward and in putting in putting
humans back on the moon on the ARTEMIS

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program and one thing we want to talk
about too is that you know the moon is

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just the first step there's a lot left
to be learned and of course the ultimate

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goal is right up here in the corner of
the screen we're focusing on the moon

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now but all of this is to one day you
know get humans to Mars and get more

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spacecraft to Mars and so it's an
exciting time to be at NASA and it's

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certainly exciting time to reflect back
on the moon we really kind of

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demonstrated 2019 has been the year of
the moon with the 50th anniversary of

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the Apollo mission but you know I think
it's time to look forward to the future

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and and the future is kind of right here