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As the Artemis missions journey to the Moon,

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finding and understanding water

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will be key to establishing a renewed presence there.

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Water is critical to life

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and can be broken into Hydrogen and Oxygen,

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which can serve as rocket fuel.

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The Lunar IceCube mission,

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led by Morehead State University,

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will carry a NASA instrument called BIRCHES

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to investigate water ice on the Moon.

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Lunar IceCube is a small satellite

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designed to provide observations at diverse lunar regions

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to better understand the Moon's water cycle.

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NASA scientists will use BIRCHES data

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to understand where water is,

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what its origins are,

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and how we can use it.

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BIRCHES will also help map water in the exosphere,

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an extremely thin volume of atmosphere

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surrounding the Moon.

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Scientists are interested in understanding

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the absorption and release of water in the Moon's regolith,

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dust and rocks on the lunar surface.

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This research will help scientists and engineers

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better understand changes to water on the Moon over time.

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BIRCHES uses a similar technology

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that flew on the OSIRIS-REx mission,

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which studied the asteroid Bennu.

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However, BIRCHES has been miniaturized

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to 1/6 the mass of the instrument on OSIRIS-REx

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and is roughly the size of an eight-inch tisssue box.

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The Lunar IceCube spacecraft and BIRCHES instrument

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will launch as a secondary payload

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on the Artemis I mission,

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helping pave the way for future crewed exploration missions

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to the lunar surface.