As the Artemis missions journey to the Moon,
finding and understanding water
will be key to establishing a renewed presence there.
Water is critical to life
and can be broken into Hydrogen and Oxygen,
which can serve as rocket fuel.
The Lunar IceCube mission,
led by Morehead State University,
will carry a NASA instrument called BIRCHES
to investigate water ice on the Moon.
Lunar IceCube is a small satellite
designed to provide observations at diverse lunar regions
to better understand the Moon's water cycle.
NASA scientists will use BIRCHES data
to understand where water is,
what its origins are,
and how we can use it.
BIRCHES will also help map water in the exosphere,
an extremely thin volume of atmosphere
surrounding the Moon.
Scientists are interested in understanding
the absorption and release of water in the Moon's regolith,
dust and rocks on the lunar surface.
This research will help scientists and engineers
better understand changes to water on the Moon over time.
BIRCHES uses a similar technology
that flew on the OSIRIS-REx mission,
which studied the asteroid Bennu.
However, BIRCHES has been miniaturized
to 1/6 the mass of the instrument on OSIRIS-REx
and is roughly the size of an eight-inch tisssue box.
The Lunar IceCube spacecraft and BIRCHES instrument
will launch as a secondary payload
on the Artemis I mission,
helping pave the way for future crewed exploration missions
to the lunar surface.