W NASA są rozwijane koncepcje dwóch niskobudżetowych misji księżycowych:
Lunar Flashlight i Resource Prospector Mission:
http://www.space.com/27388-nasa-moon-mining-missions-water.htmlLunar Flashlight - to sonda typu cubest, z żaglem słonecznym. Może być wyniesiona podczas pierwszego startu SLS, w celu mapowania złóż wody na południowym biegunie Księżyca:
The probe would then make about 80 passes around the moon at this low altitude, measuring and mapping deposits of water ice in permanently shadowed craters near the lunar poles. It would do this science work with the aid of its solar sail.
"We're going to use it as a mirror," Cohen said. "We're going to take the sunlight, bounce it off the solar sail into the permanently shadowed regions, and we're going to use a passive infrared spectrometer to collect the light from the permanently shadowed regions in wavelengths that are indicative of water frost."Resource Prospector Mission - to koncepcja łazika, zasilanego panelami słonecznymi do poszukiwania lodu wodnego w zacienionych obszarach Ksieżyca:
This rover would land at a yet-to-be-determined polar site and map surface and subsurface concentrations of hydrogen at two different locations, which would ideally be separated by at least 0.6 miles (1 km). RPM would use a neutron spectrometer to measure water concentrations up to 3.3 feet (1 m) underground and a near-infrared spectrometer to make its surface measurements.
The solar-powered rover would roll into permananently shadowed regions, relying on batteries to keep working in the dark. It would likely have an operational lifetime of about one week on the lunar surface, mission officials have said.Łazik ten bedzie miał wiertło oraz moze przeprowadzić także próby uzyskania wody z regolitu księżycowego.
Pytanie czy i kiedy NASA oficjalnie zaakceptuje te misje?