Artemis Internal Science Team: Mission Planning Update

As eloquently outlined in the Artemis III Science Definition Team (A3SDT) Report, the definitive statement of science priorities for the first crewed landing of the Artemis program, the return of astronauts to the surface of the Moon is expected to yield paradigm-shifting scientific advances across a wide array of scientific disciplines while facilitating the creation of a thriving cislunar economy.

To help establish a cohesive management for the Artemis campaign, the NASA Science Mission Directorate (SMD) and the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate (ESDMD) have established an Artemis Internal Science Team to complement future competed surface geology and payload science teams while executing critical programmatic functions at the point of hardware element interface decisions. Here, we describe aspects of Artemis III mission planning, specifically the current progress towards selection of candidate exploration regions for the Artemis III mission.