Moon and Gemini

Thousands of students around the country and around the world are getting ready to go to the Moon. They’re developing cracker-sized instruments to land on the lunar surface. Several hundred of these instruments will share a ride to the Moon. They’ll operate independently and in groups, addressing several topics in lunar science.

The project is known as GLEE — Great Lunar Expedition for Everyone. It’s an outreach effort of Artemis — NASA’s project to return astronauts to the Moon. It’s open to high school and college students around the world.

Each team is customizing a computer chip that’s a couple of inches on each side. The solar-powered chips include sensors to measure the temperature, the Moon’s magnetic field, and other parameters. Several hundred of them will hitch a ride on a lunar lander. They’ll then be fired out of a small canister, and spread across several hundred square yards. The students will analyze the readings from their chips, which will be made available to everyone.

GLEE is still looking for a landing mission to carry the chips — the work of thousands of students from around the world.

Their target — the Moon — will be in the southeast at first light tomorrow, near the center of Gemini. The constellation’s “twins” will perch close by. Pollux, the brighter of the twins, will be to the lower left of the Moon, with Castor almost due left.

Tomorrow: Another light in the dawn sky.
 

Script by Damond Benningfield