We are pleased to announce that Kinemetrics has been awarded a sub-contract from JPL to supply the Short Period Sensor for the Farside Seismic Suite instrument that will be delivered to Schrödinger basin near the lunar South Pole. The Farside Seismic Suite (FSS), one of the two payloads to be delivered, will carry two seismometers: the vertical Very Broadband seismometer and the three component Short Period sensor.
NASA measured seismic activity on the near side of the Moon as part of the Apollo program, but FSS will return the agency’s first seismic data from the far side of the Moon—a potential future destination for Artemis astronauts. This new data could help scientists better understand tectonic activity on the far side of the Moon, reveal how often the lunar far side is impacted by small meteorites, and provide new constraints on the internal structure of the Moon. FSS will continue taking data for several months on the lunar surface beyond the lifetime of the lander. To survive the two-week long lunar nights, the FSS package will be self-sufficient with independent power, communications, and thermal control. As Kinemetrics was founded by members of the team that developed the original Apollo seismometers, we are delighted to be involved in the mission that will resume seismic measurements on the moon.
The Kinemetrics FSS SP team includes the personnel from Imperial College London and Oxford University responsible for the delivery of the InSight SP seismometer that has been successful operating on Mars for the last 3 years.
