August 23, 2023: The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) have selected a geology team that will develop the surface science plan for the first crewed lunar landing mission in more than 50 years.

NASA’S Artemis III mission will send astronauts and land the first woman on the Moon, near the lunar South Pole.

The Artemis III Geology Team which will be lead by principal investigator Dr. Brett Denevi will work with the agency to determine the mission’s geological science objectives and design the geology surface campaign that the Artemis astronauts will carry out on the Moon during this historic mission. These objectives will be defined in accordance with the established Artemis science priorities.

According to NASA, the team members who will co-investigate the mission are: Dr. Lauren Edgar, Dr. Bradley Jolliff, Dr. Caleb Fassett, Dr. Dana Hurley, Dr. Gordon Osinski, Dr. Jennifer Heldmann, Dr. Jose Hurtado, Dr. Juliane Gross, Dr. Katherine Joy, Dr. Mark Robinson, and Dr. Yang Liu.

The team will have a budget of $5.1 million to lead the geology strategy for Artemis III.

According to NASA release, the team will focus to plan the Artemis III astronauts’ science activities during their moonwalks, which will include field geology traverses, observations, and the collection of lunar samples, imagery, and scientific measurements. The team will also support the real-time documentation and initial assessment of scientific data during astronaut lunar operations. Members will then evaluate the data returned by the mission, including preliminary examination and cataloguing of the first lunar samples collected by NASA since 1972.