The improved technology shall be taken to the Moon by SpaceX, Firefly Aerospace and NASA with the launch of the Firefly Blue Ghost 1 mission tomorrow.
The Next Generation Lunar Retroreflector (NGLR) serves as a goal for lasers on Earth to exactly measure the gap between the Earth and the Moon. NGLR will reflect very short laser pulses from ground-based lunar laser observatories (LLRO). The transit time of the laser pulse to the Moon and back is used to find out the gap. The original Apollo retroreflectors provided the lunar coordinates we use today. NGLR will significantly improve Apollo mission performance with submillimeter measurements, providing advances within the lunar coordinate system ahead of the Artemis program. NGLR will support the Lunar Laser Rangering Program for long-term studies of lunar physics, astrophysics and cosmology. The increased ranging accuracy achieved by NGLR will contribute to a greater understanding of the Moon’s internal structure and to handle theories of dark matter.
Instrument type: Cube Corner retroreflector, housing and mounting structure
Key Measurement: Precise distances to estimate lunar core oblateness, elastic tides, lunar tidal scattering, core/mantle boundary scattering, free physical librations, lunar cartography and gravitomagnetism
Leading development organization: University of Maryland
Cargo identification: Dr. Douglas Currie
The Lunar Magnetotelluric Sounder measures natural, time-varying electric and magnetic fields from the solar wind and Earth’s magnetosphere to find out the electrical conductivity profile of the Moon’s interior. This study will constrain the temperature structure and history of the Moon, and can distinguish the “normal” Mare Crisium region from the anomalous western near side of the Moon (where all of the Apollo landings occurred). The instrument uses components and heritage from several previous missions, including MAVEN, THEMIS and MSL-RAD.
Type of instrument: Electrometer and magnetometer
Key measurement: The ratio of the electrical field spectrum to the magnetic field spectrum on the lunar surface determines the frequency-dependent ground impedance, just like Ohm’s law. This in turn allows the depth-dependent conductivity to be recovered.
Leading development organization: Southwest Research Institute
PI payload: Dr. Robert Grimm


Brian Wang is a futuristic thought leader and popular science blogger with a million monthly readers. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked primary within the Science News Blog rating. It covers many disruptive technologies and trends, including space, robotics, artificial intelligence, medicine, anti-aging biotechnology and nanotechnology.
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