The Farside Seismic Suite: A Novel Approach for Long-term Lunar Seismology

The Apollo program included several seismometers that were left on the lunar surface and provided data on the Moon’s seismic activity. However, these seismometers were all placed on the lunar near side at Apollo landing sites and were limited by the sensitivity of then-current electronics. The Far-side Seismic Suite (FSS), currently in development and intended to be delivered to the lunar surface on the upcoming CP-12 Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) mission, plans to be an example of the next generation of lunar seismometers, extending the Apollo seismic data set with data collected on the lunar far side and with modern instrumentation.FSS’ goal is to answer several open scientific questions: 1) What is the deep lunar structure of the moon, and how does it influence the difference between near side and far side seismicity; 2) How has the lunar crust been affected by the development of an impact melt basin; and 3) What is the current micrometeorite impact rate? In order to do so, FSS is designed to accommodate seismometers with heritage from the NASA InSight mission to Mars and last for several months on the lunar surface. Because FSS’ host lander is not designed to last past the first lunar daylight period after landing, FSS includes independent power, communications, and thermal control systems that allow FSS to not only survive but also collect data throughout multiple lunar nights.In this paper, we will discuss the science goals of FSS and its expected performance, provide an overview of the technical implementation of a quasi-independent lunar payload, discuss its similarities to and differences from InSight, and describe the unique opportunities and challenges of operating within NASA’s CLPS framework.